Stargate Equinox
by ripplestone
Summary: Dr. Daniel Jackson is convinced a newly discovered set of Celtic Iron Age coins are glyphs for an undiscovered Stargate somewhere in England which will lead to the discovery of a civilization that could predate the Ancients...
1. Chapter 1

**Stargate: Equinox**

**Chapter One**

**January 2015**

**A field somewhere in Wiltshire, England**

'You would hardly know it's there.' The thought fills the abstract space in Rob's head and focuses his attention back to the metal detector. He tended to zone out when working a field and this one, stretching out over the floor of a valley nestling in the shadow of the Wiltshire Plains, was a featureless, treeless expanse of ploughed chalky flint and scree. What had caught his eye while his mind was elsewhere? Rob backtracks a few paces and then sees it. A shallow depression in the ground, barely visible. Too small to be a dry dew pond. An old well maybe? Rob runs the metal detector head slowly over the shallow depression not expecting to get anything and so when the the low beep of the detector changes to a high whine he is taken aback. The hairs on the back of his neck rise, not just with the thought of a find but as though he is being watched. He stops and looks round half expecting to see someone but he is alone in the field under a grey sky. He marks the spot with a small red flag on a tent peg and then rummages through his backpack for the trowel he carries at all times.

Dropping to his knees, Rob starts to slowly clear away the soil around the red flag and, after a minute or two the first coin appears. Within an hour Robert 'Rob' Bowden has uncovered over a thousand silver and gold coins and there seems to be more and more, the deeper he digs. After another hour, the largest hoard of Iron Age coins ever found lies in the folds of his parka coat and, with numb fingers in the chill, darkening air, Rob carries on digging, uncovering more coins here and there until the dull scrape of metal stops him. In the failing light of dusk he can just make out a small metal box, lead maybe, and then the soil gives way to the solid chalk bedrock running under the field and up onto the plains. He carefully loosens the box from the chalk and tries to open it but it holds fast. Rob glances around him, night is falling, only a thin rim of light remains on the western horizon and he glances at his watch, 4.20pm. Time to call it a day. He makes a note of the GPS position on his phone and, carefully folding in the edges of his parka he tries to pick it up but the find is far too heavy for one person and the coat edges pull apart, spilling the coins out across the ploughed ground. Rob swears softly to himself. The light is gone and he can't walk out with the coins on his own, he has no option but to call it in. It means he will have to declare the find. More than likely it will be classed as treasure and end up in the hands of a museum, he'll be lucky if he sees half the proceeds from the land owner. He shakes his head and sighs, then, without knowing why, pockets the small lead box and dials the emergency find number for a local metal detector group.

**February 2015  
Department of Coins &amp; Medals, The British Museum.**

Agnes Dale pauses for a second, glancing down the long illuminated table in the middle of room at the hoard of coins, each one in its own small glass case. Over two hundred gold coins, nine hundred silver and copper alloy coins and several hundred unclassified coins, either too damaged to identify easily or simply of unknown origin. All of them Celtic Iron Age dating from between 400BC and 100BC. A hoard of coins this large and of this period in time is an unprecedented find. It had become a media sensation, not least of all because the hoard very nearly could have disappeared into the black market. It was simply the size and scale of the find meant a local detectorist group became involved and they had the sense to contact the local coroner to register it. The young man who found the hoard is now nowhere to be found, perhaps scared off by the media interest or the legal process, so for now, her job is too assess the coins and issue PAS numbers and index and catalogue them. An independent committee will establish their likely worth and then the museum can buy them from the landowner. Why the young man hasn't stepped forward to claim the find rights is surprising but if he was working unregistered and alone maybe he feared prosecution for trespass or worse. Agnes' attention is drawn back to the table and its glittering treasure. She pulls on a pair of gloves and smiles, her eyes drawn to the section of damaged and unknown coins.

**February 2015**

**Inside the University Office of Dr. Daniel Jackson, America.**

'Oh, Professor Jackson, before you go, there's another email. What should I do?'

'Email?...from who?' Daniel pauses at the door of his office and distractedly runs a hand over his thinning hair.

'The British Museum woman.' Louise, his secretary, taps her screen in front of her. 'Agnes Dale.'

'Again?'

'Yes, again, what do you want me to do, she keeps emailing these pictures of coins.'

'Coins?'

'Yes,... coins.' Louise smiles and shrugs her shoulders.

'But I know nothing about coins, I'm a language specialist, can't you put her off?'

'Again?'

'Yes, again and I'm going to be very late for my lecture, _again_, if I don't go now and you know how much trouble it causes with the Principle. Have you seen my glasses?'

'In your top pocket, oh, and Professor..'

_'Yes!' _

'Your lecture notes are still on your desk.'

'Louise you are a lifesaver!' Dr. Jackson races back in to his office and snatches the notes from his desk just as the Principle of the University arrives. 'Jackson? _Jackson?_ Ah, there you are, I've come to make sure you actually get to your lecture on time this time, you know, fee paying students don't like to be kept waiting...'

'I was just on my way, Principle..I forgot these.'

'We do have the latest multimedia technology, paper notes, so old fashioned, we are a University for the new digital age...'

Louise chuckles to herself as the professor and the Principle make their way down the corridor. Dr. Jackson is the original forgetful professor. She scrolls through the email on the screen in front of her and is about to hit reply when one of the images of a coin catches her eye. It is of a stylised horse. Instead of replying she hits print and, then, seeing the time, closes down her computer and grabs her coat and bag. Wednesday is a half day and she's not paid beyond midday.

On her way out she picks up the print and stares at it. On second thoughts maybe it wasn't a horse, maybe a wolf and she shakes her head and leaves it on the printer tray. Her daughter only collects pictures of horses.

The principle slows his pace as they reach the lecture hall. 'You see, the problem is, Daniel, you add too much other information. Irrelevance is an anathema in the pursuit of academic excellence here. To put it bluntly, your students need to ace their midterms in order for your performance review to be adequate for you to continue here.'

Daniel's jaw drops as he realises what the Principle is saying. 'You mean my job is at risk if my students don't pass?'

'Your job is at risk, period. If your students do badly you're fired. Now, I'm sure they will be fine. But less of the astronomy and... and, space travel and more of the syntax, grammar and verb conjunctions... and no more... as one student so eloquently put it... sci-fi babble. They are not inventing a new language, just trying to get to grips with the roots of this one. Ah, good,' The Principle glances at his watch. 'You are right on time for your lecture today. Make it relevant Dr. Jackson. Make it count!'

Daniel watches him leave and then dejectedly enters the lecture hall, less than half of his students are there and the mid-terms are a week away. Somehow, his return to the academic life is not at all how he imagined it going. He thought it would be easy, retiring from SGC, taking a slower pace of life. Time to reflect and maybe to write. But the rent doesn't pay itself and what can he write about when his time at SGC is bound by military secrecy. So he had taken a well-paid post as a lecturer at the University but, despite his knowledge and language skills, his teaching methods seem to leave a lot to be desired. Giving lectures was never his strong point. He stares at the title on his lecture notes, 'Syllabaries and Logograms of the World, Understanding the Proto-Alphabet of Old English Through the Futhorc Rune Glyphs.' But it neither inspires him with the thought of being fired hanging over his head, or his students, the few there are already either busy texting or half asleep. Perhaps it is time for him to look for a new job.

Later that afternoon, back in his office the phone rings and Daniel calls through to Louise to answer it then, remembering it's her afternoon off, steps through to her desk to intercept the call. The voice at the other end is unfamiliar, with a British accent and at first Daniel wonders if it is a disgruntled parent of one of the students.

'Hello, Dr. Jackson?'

'Uh, um, no... sorry. Dr. Jackson is giving a lecture at the moment. This is his assistant, can I take a message?'

'Oh, I'm sorry, I thought Louise was his secretary...'

'She is, I'm...his research assistant, Dan...David.'

'Oh! I see. Is it possible to speak to Louise?'

'She's not in the office at the moment. Can I take a message?'

'Well, I'm calling from London, it is rather urgent. About some images of coins I've emailed...'

The coin lady! Daniel sighs in relief that he had lied about who he was.

'… I really would love some input on the Celtic glyphs on them from the Professor. Perhaps you could look at them for me, if you are his assistant, David? What is your area of research?'

'I'm afraid I have to go, Mam. There is an important call on the other line. I shall pass on your message to the Professor though.' Daniel can sense his lie is beginning to get legs and does not want to have to explain to a disapproving Louise in the morning about an imaginary assistant called David he invented in order to avoid a phone call. He hangs up abruptly and leans against the wall of Louise's cubicle, spying as he does so, the printout of the coin on the printer tray nearby. It is not the strange horse/wolf image that catches his attention but the line of faint glyphs around the edge of the coin. He grabs the page and peers closely at them. The coin woman is totally wrong, they are not Celtic glyphs at all. In fact, Daniel is pretty certain he's never seen anything like them before anywhere at all, not on Earth nor any other planet he has visited. They are a totally novel set of glyphs. A new language! Or, in this case, a very old new language.

**Department of Coins &amp; Medals, The British Museum.**

Agnes throws her phone onto the table and paces up and down in anger. She is sure that the 'assistant' is actually the Professor himself, she's seen a video clip of him on the University website and the voice was a match. How infuriating! She glances at her watch, nearly midnight. Far too late to catch the Tube home now, she would work throughout the night and leave early, before the Museum opens. Out of the hundreds damaged and unknown coins she has extracted a set of twelve that do not fit any known language or coin system from the iron age. It is this set she had emailed to the professor for advice about the strange glyphs, neither Celtic nor Gaulish nor, indeed any other early language from over two thousand years ago.

**On Whitehorse Hill, Berkshire, England.**

Robert 'Rob' Bowden stands on the brow of the Whitehorse Hill, just above the famous white horse carved onto its side. All around the wild winter wind rushes and the glow of the chalk carving below is eerily picked out by the starlight. He is freezing and hungry, living rough ever since he found the box. All recollection of the hoard of coins is wiped from his mind, only the small lead box is important. He has walked to this point, guided by some strange inner voice calling him to it. Calling him to the white horse. But the word is not 'horse' in his mind. He reaches for a definition, more like... and then he feels it, senses the word fully in his mind. Seeing it take shape, a writhing beast of fire and starlight. A Dragon. The Dragon is calling to him. Commanding him to this very spot under the stars. He opens his mouth and screams the word into the night but the wind whips away his voice before the sound can form around him and the word is lost to the world once more. In his hands the box starts to glow with a glyph of the word he had just screamed and the lid finally loosens in his grip. Rob opens it and lifts out a heavy gold signet ring, stamped with the glyph of the Dragon and places it on his forefinger. Below him the carved outline of the white horse on the hill convulses and the ground beneath his feet starts to shake and without a doubt in his mind Rob knows he is now and for all eternity in the command of this fabulous creature awakening at his feet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Inside the University Office of Dr. Daniel Jackson, America.**

Dr Daniel Jackson stares at the twelve prints of the coins, spread out across his desk. They are remarkable. Each coin has a set of twelve worn glyphs running around the edge, barely discernible with the naked eye. In the centre of each coin is a labyrinth symbol. On the back of each coin is what looks like a facsimile of the White Horse hill carving. Each coin has a different set of glyphs, despite the set having the same central motif. On the back of each coin is what looks like a facsimile of the White Horse hill carving. A thought occurs to Daniel and he gathers up the prints and strides over to a whiteboard in the corner of his office and wipes away the old notes on it. Then, he carefully transcribes the sets of symbols in lines, one directly below the next until he has one hundred and forty four glyphs. Immediately it is obvious that, while some of the glyphs repeat within the subsets, each subset is unique within the larger square.

They are like the Stargate cartouches. The thought is immediately in his head, despite the extra glyphs. But an address for a Stargate only needs at most nine glyphs. Why twelve? And the labyrinth symbol is confusing, most examples of coins with it are from the Mediterranean and the labyrinth is square on those coins, not circular, like these are. Could it be some elaborate hoax? More questions swirl in Daniel's head as he stares at the prints. In fact, so many questions that it becomes imperative to have the answers and without thinking too clearly he finds himself dialling the international code and then the direct number for Agnes Dale.

Agnes sighs to herself as her phone starts to rumble and vibrate on the table where she'd thrown it not twenty minutes before, she picks it up and presses the incoming call button only to start in surprise at the voice at the other end. 'Hello? This is Dr. Daniel Jackson, you sent me through a set of coins to look at?' The voice is unmistakably the voice of his assistant 'David'. Clearly Dr. Jackson had had a change of heart regarding the coins. Agnes smiles to herself and replies. 'Hello, Dr. Jackson, yes I did send through a full set. Interesting aren't they?'

'Extraordinary was the more the word that came to mind!'

'Well, that too. Do you recognise the language, I thought maybe a new runic inscription...'

'Not runes. Not runes... no...'

Agnes could sense a reticence, as though he knew what they were but didn't want to tell her. His next sentence caught her off guard.

'Agnes, I would very much like to meet up with you and see these coins and where they were found.'

'What! Now?' She asks, kicking herself at the obvious stupidity of her remark.

'I will have to clear a window in my calendar... but yes, as soon as possible.' Daniel ruefully expected that clearing a window would actually be him handing in his notice at the University but he did not elaborate to Agnes. Agnes is stunned by his reaction. It slowly dawns on her that the coins are possibly a history-changing find. This could be a career defining moment for her. 'That would be fine, I mean... I am sure any input you would like to give would be... fine.'

'Good. I'll email my itinerary through and call you once I am in London... the Museum is in London?'

'Yes Dr. Jackson, the museum is in London.' And with that Daniel hangs up and starts stuffing the prints, his notebooks and spare glasses into his battered leather hold-all, pausing briefly to scribble 'I resign' onto a Post-It note and stick it onto the door of his office as he leaves. If he was quick, he could just make the last flight out to London tonight.

**The hoard site in Wiltshire, England**

Forty-eight hours later, Agnes is driving her banana yellow Smart car along a narrow lane bordering the field where the coin hoard had been found. Just up ahead she could see a streamer of orange hazard tape fluttering out from a makeshift gate in the hedgerow. 'That's the site entrance.' She glances at her companion, Dr. Jackson, clutching his briefcase, glasses sliding on his nose, receding hair silver in the bright winter sunlight. The journey from London had taken a couple of hours and they had exhausted all topics of conversation about the coins, the weather, his flight over from the States, his job, her job. They had lapsed into a comfortable silence filled by the radio for the traffic news. '...An earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter Scale, recorded two nights ago in Berkshire has caused considerable damage to the White Horse carving and Dragon Hill. Estimates put the cost of refacing and repairing the iconic carved prehistoric image at one million pounds as the whole hillside will need stabilising. Locals felt the tremor at around... '

'Earthquakes?'

'Yes, the UK gets quite a few, we are a bit of an earthquake hotspot, but luckily all minor, nothing major. Shame about the White Horse, a beautiful piece of archaeology.' Agnes pulls up into a small lay-by beside the entrance to the field. 'This is it.'

A few minutes later they are standing in the field near an area cordoned off with orange plastic safety net. Daniel stands and surveys the field sweeping away across the valley. To the north is the shoulder of a hill. He nods towards it and Agnes replies before he can ask his question.

'The start of the Downs. Wiltshire Plain runs up over the high ground from here, famous for Stonehenge of course. The general census of opinion is the coins originated from there. Perhaps collected over time from the site in the distant past and buried here for safekeeping. But so far, no literature or reference has been found to corroborate the theory.'

'An odd place to bury them. There's no remarkable features nearby.'

'Maybe there was once. Springs often well up along valley bottoms around here, perhaps there was a well, or a stream once.' But even as Agnes is talking she knows it sounds far-fetched. The field is as plain as a blank page with no signs of ever being anything other than a field.

'So how far away is Stonehenge?'

'Not far... we can go and have a look if you like. There has been some interesting new research there recently, regarding the wider landscape.'

Agnes and Daniel head back to her car and leave the field to its deep, brooding silence under the winter sky.

**On Whitehorse Hill, Berkshire, England.**

The Dragon Hill mound is missing half of one side. As though someone has taken a giant spoon to a giant pudding. The thought does nothing to help Commander Jack O'Neill's mood. Bad enough to be standing on a cold hillside in the middle of England, even worse to have been bought out of what was turning into a comfortable retirement to 'keep tabs' on Dr. Daniel Jackson. Stargate Command, after intercepting a series of strange emails between Daniel and the British Museum, had called him up and, since he was travelling around Europe, asked if he would see what Daniel was up to. So far, all he had done is drive around the countryside with Agnes. The earthquake seems far more interesting and Jack had decided to take a detour to see the site while Daniel and Agnes drove around Wiltshire. The small locating device he had placed on her Smart car would send their locations to his phone.

The earthquake had blurred the chalk horse into a shattered mess. All along the hilltop people are taking photos and TV crews are lining up to get a good view. Jack blends into the crowd and watches as nearby a troop of army cadets are cordoning off the site and moving people away from the still treacherous edge. To Jack it looks as though something has tried to claw its way out of the ground and then he notices him. A little way off. Sunlight glinting on something he is holding, a small box maybe. He is the only person in the area not looking or filming the damage to the hillside. Instead the young man is staring directly up at the sky. Jack glances skywards, half expecting to see a plane or a radio controlled drone but the sky is empty. Something about the young man is familiar and Jack casually wanders nearer to him to get a closer look. And then he realises it is the young man who found the hoard of coins, he recognises him from the SGC file. He gets to a few feet away from him and then asks softly. 'Rob. Rob Bowden?'

Rob swivels round at the sound of his name. It had been a real risk to return here and now he had been recognised. He slips the metal box into his pocket and glares at Jack. 'What do you want?'

Jack catches a glimpse of the heavy gold ring on his finger just before Rob thrusts his hands and whatever he is holding deep into his pockets.

'Nothing, I just thought I recognised you from the TV.' Jack smiles and turns to indicate to the fractured hill. 'Quite a spectacle eh? So, are you looking for more coins that might have been unearthed?' But his question falls into empty space as, in the second he turns away, Rob Bowden sets off at a sprint down the hill. Jack watches him run and decides to let him go, pondering over the gold ring and the small box like object he had glimpsed. His phone beeps and Jack glances at the location tracker info. Daniel and Agnes had arrived at Stonehenge.

**At Stonehenge**

The stones are a cool grey in the cold, low winter sun. Here and there a rook picks at the ground as sheep nibble the grass to a neat lawn. Somehow the henge seems smaller, more ordinary than Daniel expected. Agnes sighs and stands in front of the guide fence separating them from the stones. 'Every time I visit it seems to shrink, they want to build an underground road, get rid of all the traffic. The stones seem more and more vulnerable each year.' Daniel glances across to the nearby A303 road, snaking its way past with slow moving traffic.

'So, can we get any closer to them?'

'Not without permission. At the solstices you can, you know, Druids and suchlike but, well, without prior notice I don't think we'll have any luck.'

Daniel wanders on farther around the stone circles. He can't help but see an immediate similarity with the sarsens in their trilithon horseshoe shape and the Stargate rings but why would a prehistoric culture know how to build a Stargate when there is no evidence that Ra ever visited anywhere other than Egypt on Earth. And why place it horizontally off the ground, rather than vertically? And the stones are worn smooth and the ring is broken... his thoughts are interrupted by Agnes. 'There's a new visitor centre, we can get a cup of tea and ask about getting closer to the stones. Get out of this cold.' He smiles and nods in agreement and they walk back past the groups of tourists and sheep towards the centre.

The new interactive displays hold Daniel's attention while Agnes uses her Museum credentials at the desk to see if she can get them entry to the stones but to no avail. As she thought, without prior agreement, they could not get direct access to the stones.

The history of the area is extraordinary and Daniel retrieves a small notebook from his pocket and starts to make notes. 'You could probably just download the app, you know.' Agnes' voice at his side makes him jump. 'Sorry?'

'There's a phone app for that...never mind, how about a cup of tea? Seems there's no chance of getting near the stones till the equinox.'

'The equinox?'

'Yes, we tend all tend to think of the summer and winter solstice as the important festivals here in modern times but there's also the spring and autumn equinoxes, days of equal length, the next one is on the twenty-first of March this year.'

'The henges were built around 3000BC.'

'Yes, yes. Quite incredible. Of course we have other stone circles and henges scattered across the UK but nothing quite like Stonehenge.' She stirs her cup of tea and watches as Dr. Jackson makes more notes in his book. The site seems to have piqued his interest. 'So, do you think the coins originated from here?' she asks, keeping her voice low so as not to be overheard.

Daniel pauses in his note making and smiles at her, leaning forward to reply 'I don't think they originated here, no but I think there is a reason that Stonehenge is here and it is related to those coins.. I just haven't quite...'

'Joined up all the dots?' An unmistakeable voice cuts across his answer and Daniel jumps in surprise, spilling his tea over his notes, as Commander Jack O'Neill pulls up a chair and sits astride it, arms resting on the back. 'How do you do, I'm Commander Jack O'Neill...' He offers a hand to shake to Agnes and she takes it bemusedly shaking it while watching Daniel's alarmed reaction to this new stranger. '..don't mind Daniel, he's very clumsy. We used to work together, a few years back.'

'You worked for the military? I didn't know.' Agnes can feel there is a lot more she doesn't know about these two men.

'How did you know I was here?' Bypassing all formalities, Daniel asks Jack the question directly, still mopping away the spilt tea.

'Well, you know the military... we were monitoring your emails and..'

'You spy on Dr. Jackson? You're allowed to do that?' Agnes is shocked at the idea.

'But how did you know I'd be _here_, now?' Daniel asks again, sure that the Commander is hiding something.

'Well, I might have put a tracker on your vehicle...'

'You bugged my car? _Now just a minute,_ by who's authority _exactly_ do you have to...' Agnes could feel her voice rising in volume and people were beginning to take notice of the three of them.

Jack cuts across her, his voice changing to steely cold.

'I think it's time we move to somewhere more private. I can explain exactly by who's authority on the way. Let's go.' He stands up and gestures to the door and Agnes is about to argue when she realises Daniel is following the Commander, she is left with no option but to follow the pair of them out of the café and over to an unmarked military Jeep. _'_But what about my car?' Agnes asks climbing into the back seat alongside Daniel.

'It'll be fine, I'll have someone pick it up later.' And with that Commander O'Neill drives off, at some speed towards some unknown destination.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

'Have you heard of mirror galaxies?' Jack O'Neill enters a series of codes into a computer console and a section of the field station wall seems to dissolve into a 3D image of a galaxy.

'Ummm.. yes, I think so. Just a theory, though?' Daniel replies, staring at the galaxy.

'No, never heard of it.' Agnes is still in a state of shock, looking around the interior of what, from the outside appeared to be a lorry parked up at a motorway service station and, once inside, has morphed into something from a science fiction movie. ' And I don't believe for one minute that story you spun on the way here about the hoard being being a matter of national security. What _is_ this place? '

'This? Oh, it's a portable field station for Stargate Command, it's designed to blend into the local environment, in this case, a truck. The Mirror Galaxy Theorem was proposed by Dr. McKay, the idea being two galaxies, connected by a Stargate, over time would mirror events happening in the other one, through a very complex set of quantum level events triggered by the gate... never quite understood that part, anyhow... a team based here in the UK have been working on looking for these mirror galaxies and recently discovered an event mirroring one happening here, now.'

'What? Wait a minute... what is Stargate Command?'

Jack ignores Agnes' question and continues with his explanation 'There is an eclipse due on the equinox in the northern hemisphere here, the same thing will happen there, with this sun and its solar system. It's in Mirror Galaxy 03, MG3, not very a very catchy name...'

'It has a gate to here?' Daniel examines the small pinpoint of light Jack is indicating at.

'We don't know, the idea is the team working on this theory find galaxies which could be candidates and then we look for solar systems within them like ours. So far, only a handful of galaxies have been found and this is the only solar system mirroring ours. We were looking for possible gate sites when you and your friend here start swapping emails about coins.'

'_What are you both, some kind of sci-fi nerds?_' Agnes is beginning to feel there is another entire side to Dr. Daniel Jackson, a side she is only just seeing. A horrible thought occurs to her. '_Have I been abducted?'_

'What? _No_...no. This is all true, weird and alarming but true... I remember when I first found out about Stargate Command...look, you are free to go at any time...' Daniel is interrupted by Jack.

'You are most definitely not free to go and what we are discussing _is_ top secret.'

_'What?' _Agnes can't believe what she is hearing_.'This is ridiculous! I came here to try and find answers about the coins and this... this is preposterous!'_ She tries to exit the lorry only to find the door has no internal handle. 'LET ME OUT!'

'Agnes, wait... its OK, really. I can vouch for your safety. Are the coins connected?' A thought occurs to Daniel as he tries to placate her and stop her hammering on the door.

'We don't know. I was checking out the earthquake sight on a whim it might be a gate emerging when I saw this person, one Robert Bowden I believe, he was acting very strangely.' Jack downloads a photo of Rob Bowden onto the screen from his phone.

'Wait... I know him!' Agnes stops hammering on the door and walks over to the screen. 'Rob Bowden, he found the hoard! Then disappeared. What's this?' Agnes notices a small shiny object on his hand, glinting in the sunlight. Is it another coin?'

'No, it's a gold ring, with an image of an unknown creature on it.' Jack zooms the image in on the ring.

'He was at the hill? Too much of a coincidence, he must be there for a reason.' Agnes runs through all the possible connections she can think of through her mind. 'If the ring is part of the hoard and it led him to the hill, then the coins could be linked to that site. Which means, if the earthquake hasn't destroyed everything, there may be more there, or other artefacts pointing to where and who created them. We need to get to the hill!'

'Not tonight, the light will have gone and the earthquake has attracted a lot of attention. We'll head back out there tomorrow, tonight I want you both to come back to headquarters with me. Meet the team.'

'Back to Colorado?' For a moment Daniel is thrown by Jack's answer.

'No, Stargate Command UK. It's not too far from here.'

'This isn't Stargate Command?' Agnes glances around the lorry.

'No, this is a truck. Let's go.' Jack presses a button beside the door and it clicks opens as he gestures to Agnes and Daniel to leave.

Rob Bowden stops running at the bottom of the hill just long enough to see if the man is following him but he is nowhere to be seen. Rob breathes heavily, feeling a stitch beginning to nag under his ribs from the sudden exertion. It had been a risk to so openly approach the dragon's lair and he needed to take better care next time. For now he needed to lie low, get his head straight, think up a plan. Looking round for somewhere to stay out of sight, he spots a small barn a few fields away. That would do, he could lie low there for now. In his pocket the lead box feels particularly heavy, as though the ring inside is loathe to leave the hillside and is trying to drag him back there. Back to the dragon. Rob clenches his fists at his side and takes a deep breath, ignoring the weight of the small box and starts walking to the barn, keeping his eyes firmly away from the ruined hill behind him.

Commander Jack O'Neill can barely stop a smile from spreading across his face at the bewildered look at his two companions as he leads them the few hundred feet from the portable field station into the motorway service station coffee house, past the queues to a small service door near the rear of the cafe. Wait till they see SGCUK. He punches in a code into the key lock and the door opens and the three of them step into what looks like an service elevator. 'Hold on to your hats, this thing is fast.'

Agnes and Daniel feel their stomachs rise and their knees give as the express elevator plummets the four stories down to stop with a slow smooth hiss. The door opens and nothing could have prepared Agnes for the sight that greets her. SGCUK is a vast split level cavern hewn from the bedrock with metal walkways, gantries and offices sectioned off in glass, cement and high tech multi-screen walls. Here and there are what look like army personnel working away at computer consoles and in the middle of all this is a huge, curved screen with what looks like an image of the universe across it like the one in the truck. Jack notices her look of shock and leans in to whisper to her, 'Crazy huh, like we fell down the proverbial rabbit hole.' His comment barely registers as Agnes tries to process the scene in front of her. She realises Daniel is already striding across the floor of SGCUK towards a person he seems to recognise and, without knowing why, Agnes hurries after him leaving the Commander to catch up with them.

_'Teal'c!'_

'Indeed. It is me, Dr. Daniel Jackson. It is good to see you again.'

'You too, you too. Teal'c, I'd like you to meet Agnes Dale. Agnes, this is Teal'c...of Chulak... a planet far from here.'

But just as Agnes starts to realise that Daniel isn't joking and the statuesque figure being introduced to her really is an alien, the Commander catches up with them and intervenes. 'No time for chitchat, the team is all waiting in meeting room One, this way.' And with that he hooks as arm under Daniel and Agnes's elbows and drags them off towards a meeting room set into the rear rock face of the cavern.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

'Thuban,' Professor Peter Cromwell uses his light pointer to pick out the tail end of the Dragon Constellation on the chart projected on the wall behind him. 'In the Draco constellation, was the original pole star from about 4th to 2nd millennium BC. Thuban, which means snake, is a white giant star and it is also a binary star, it's companion star is in a fifty-one day orbit and is probably a red dwarf. At this time, we are interested in this small group of solar systems here.' He zooms in on the star chart and finds a small galaxy hidden beyond Thuban '...'visible for the first time, with our new data from..' The professor pauses as the meeting room door slides open and Jack O'Neill enters with Dr. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and a woman he has never seen before. 'From data... please sit, sit!... where was I ah, yes... from the new exoplanet data from our SGC Quantum Exosearch Space Telescope Mission. We have named it the Mirror Galaxy 03 or MG3. The visible star you can see here,' he zooms in closer to a small solar system on the map, '...is similar to our sun and our own solar system. This galaxy has been sitting in the shadow of Thuban's bright binary light for, well, similar in age to our own galaxy but, most curiously, this particular solar system within in it mirrors our own eclipse sequence in the northern hemisphere... leading us to postulate that a potential gate site is present or has been present on this planet in particular. We are calling it MG3alpha, and this one MG3beta...etc... and so this next equinox event on March 20th gives us a specific time frame to try and pinpoint a potential gate sight within the eclipse shadow area here on Earth, defined by the projected maps in your digital packs. I've assigned each of you a grid area to monitor, including seismic anomalies, spectrograph data, radio announcements, news, internet sightings, anything and everything... we need to make sure we are fully synchronised with all recordings and so... we have less than a month to get ready in and time is wasting! Let's get to it team!' The meeting breaks up and Peter waits as his team of twenty scientists file out of the room until only Jack, Daniel, Teal'c and the mystery lady remain.

Peter smiles at Agnes and Daniel and introduces himself, 'I'm Professor Peter Cromwell, in charge of the scientific team here, I know who you are Dr. Jackson and you are?'

'Agnes, Agnes Dale I work for the British Museum...'

'Ah yes, the coin lady, delighted to meet you. 'Well, well, I am sure you both must have a lot of questions about our work here, let's head back to my office and discuss it all with a nice cup of tea.' This way please.'

'So Thuban would have been the pole star when Stonehenge was built?' Agnes sips on the cup of tea poured by Peter back in his office.

'Yes, one of my pet theories is Stonehenge is similar to the pyramids in Egypt in the way it copies an off-world culture bought here through a Stargate by an advanced people. Stonehenge may well have been built long after the actual event as a replica of a gate, or some kind of spacecraft. I think this off-world contact is a separate culture to the Goa'uld and Ancients we have previously encountered but uses an intrinsically similar Stargate technology. Perhaps the Ancients visited their solar system or they independently developed it and thus Stonehenge remains an enigmatic glimpse of a stand-alone event of extra terrestrial contact.'

'And the coin hoard fits into all this?'

'We don't know for sure if it does but my suggestion is those coins you and Daniel have been looking into, may well pre-date Stonehenge and be from another planet brought through a gate.'

' From MG3alpha?' Daniel asks, helping himself to the last of the Professor's biscuits.

'Not necessarily. But coincidence is not something we are exploring in the quantum dynamics of Stargate events and so the emergence of these coins, the equinox event mirroring in this solar system on MG3alpha, Stonehenge being built when the nearest giant star to this solar system was the pole star here all start to add up... evidence based research is what I am interested in, we collect all and any relevant data and then, with rigorous analysis...'

'...Join up all the dots?' asks Jack

'Precisely. Now we have an earthquake as well to throw into the mix..'

'And Robert Bowden... that ring of his, with the dragon symbol, he could have other pieces, a Rosetta stone if you like, to unlock the meaning of glyphs...' Agnes reaches in her bag for her photos of the coins and spreads them out on the professor's workbench.

Daniel traces round the glyphs with his finger 'I wondered about Stargate cartouches but twelve symbols instead of six... seemed unlikely... but...'

'But?' Jack asks, feeling Daniel is about to say something of importance and slightly annoyed he ate the last biscuit.

'You said Thuban is a binary star. Two sets of six symbols for the destination around the edge. The centre symbol as the location...'

'That is genius! Does that even work as science?' Jack jumps to his feet.

'I'll get my team to look into it. But it could be possible.' Peter nods in approval at Daniel's hypothesis. 'We need to get those coins here to examine them properly.'

'What about this Robert Bowden, if he has access to significant finds relating to the coins, we should find him.' Teal'c picks up on Agnes's point. 'He might have access to the Stargate itself and he could be putting himself in very great danger without knowing it.'

'Teal'c is right, we need to track him down and fast.' Jack is delighted at the thought of action rather than waiting around for the Professor's results. 'I'll get a team together with Teal'c and we'll start the search at first light.'

'How will we get the coins from the Museum, they won't release them to me.'

'Don't worry, the Professor here, I'm sure, will be able to organise it.' Daniel surmises.

'Call me Peter and, yes, I can pull a few strings and get the coins here for you two examine further. A binary combination could well be the key to finding a gate here before we reach the Equinox Event..'

'The what?' Agnes does not like the tone Peter used. 'What event?'

'Hypothetically, quantum entanglement vectors in space/time dimensions suggest that a Stargate could connect with another quantum linked gate in a mirror galaxy and remain open during synchronised episodes. In short, a bridge from another world to ours. Leaving us open to off-world invasion. It is imperative we find the hypothetical gate location before the Equinox.'

**On the planet Epona (MG3alpha)**

From her vantage point high in the rafters, Kyna stares out across the Gathering of the Kin of Epona, the Horse Chiefs already seated waiting to hear the traditional words of greeting from Tara, Queen of the Kin. There is much talking and laughing and drinking as the chiefs wait, oblivious to the now lengthy delay of their Queen's arrival.

'Can you see her?' Lore digs Kyna in the ribs and makes her shift over so he too, can get a better view.

'Watch out, Lore, you'll dislodge me if you are not careful!'

Kyna rebalances as Lore moves further along the thick wooden beam, it had been a long time since they had climbed up into the rafters of the Great Hall and he is already regretting letting Kyna talk him into it. Yes, it was unusual to call the Gathering so early in the year... Kyna's trouble is her inquisitiveness and it usually led him into trouble too. 'Why are we even here? This is none of our business, the Horse Chief will let the Kin know what the meeting is about.'

Kyna sighs in exasperation at her twin brother's lack of adventure. 'That will take for ever, I want to know now. You've seen our horses, felt the herd's restlessness, something is wrong, I know it. _Look, she's here!'_

On the raised dais below, Tara raises a hand as the waiting chiefs subside into silence. She stands tall, her grey hair spilling in thick waves over her crimson woollen cloak. On her brow sits the Crown of Kin, silver hands wreathed together and at her breast the white horse amulet, the royal seal.

'Loyal Kin, I welcome you to this Great Hall. May we share our fortune and future together. But I must call a halt to your revelries, I bring no good news this night. Even as I speak, the Naxen are on rise again. But this time we are in even greater danger as the Gate of the Twins will be in flux when the heavens align above us during the Shadowing. Once again the Great Shadow of Nixor will fall upon us. Once again we can only hope the seal of Epona will hold true on the tomb of Nixor, long millennia in exile through the Gate of the Twins...'

Kyna can only half follow what the Queen is saying. Nixor? Did she mean the Dragon King who devoured the kelpies and the pegasai and only left the land horses? Kyna tries to remember her childhood folk stories as the Queen continues with her speech on the dais below.

'To the south of the prairies, raiding parties of Naxen have been stealing our food and our herds and there are rumours reaching us, by way of spies and captives, of a plot to rise up and break through our defences round the Gate of the Twins, to travel back to unleash Nixor and crush the Kin of Epona...'

Kyna is so deep in thought, she forgets where she is and before Lore can grab her, she slides off the beam, her fall to the floor below broken by a particularly stout horse chief who shouts out in surprise as she lands, catlike, on his back._ 'By the Wings of a Pegasai! I'm attacked!' h_e shrieks only to elicit roars of laughter and disapproval as it turns out to be only Kyna the horse herder and not a deadly Naxen assassin.

Tara pauses until the gathering falls silent again and then continues. 'This threat is so palpable that I am preparing to travel through the Gate with my most trusted Valkyrs and make sure the seal of Epona is not broken by a Naxen raiding party during the Shadowing.'

This revelation elicits gasps and mutters from the Chiefs and before long there is uproar in the Great Hall. No one had stepped through the Gate of the Twins for thousands of years. The queen could not leave them during such a time of unprecedented unrest. What if she is killed or became trapped on the distant planet? The arguments for and against her proposed course of action raged on for hours until, weary of the noise Tara once again raises her hand for silence. 'Enough, my decision is made, the purpose of this gathering is to warn you and to urge you to return to your herders and prepare for the Shadowing as best you can. Keep the Spirit of the Kin Steadfast in your Hearts, Horse Chiefs of Epona.' Tara finishes sharply with the traditional bidding and sweeps down from the dais, her cloak swirling out behind her. She pauses by one of her Valkyr guards and nods toward Kyna with the unmistakeable command to bring her along too and the guard salutes and makes her way through the crowd to where Kyna is being held by the Horse Chief she landed on. Up in the rafters, Lore scrambles to reach his sister before the Valkyr does but he is too late and can only follow on behind as Kyna is led away to the Queen's Hall.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Kyna stands in front of Queen Tara, flanked on either side by a towering Valkyr guard, making her small frame seem even smaller. Tara leans forward in her chair and sizes up the young woman standing in front of her. The horse herder is small, even for a herder. But robust and clearly agile and strong, the only way she could have fallen from the rafter in the Great Hall is to have climbed up there, quite a feat in itself. Let alone falling and landing on all fours without injury, even if it was on the back of a chief. 'What is your name?'

'Kyna, my Queen.'

'Kyna.. a horse herder?'

'Yes, my Queen.'

'Just call me Tara. There is only us here so no need for such formality. You are very agile for a herder.'

'The horses, my Qu...Tara, when we round them up often I run across their backs to guide them to the waterhole or the counting pens.'

'A horse runner?' Tara smiles at the thought. 'You are fearless and agile, not many would run across the backs of horses any more. You are also inquisitive, want to know what is going on, is that why you were in the rafters?'

'Yes, I... the horses have been restless and the news takes such a long time to reach us out at the herds. Are you really going to go through the gate?'

Before Tara can answer there is a commotion outside the door and another Valkyr arrives with another young horse herder held firmly in her grasp. 'I found this one outside the door, my Queen. Trying to spy on you.'

_'Lore!'_ Kyna blurts out his name in surprise before she can stop herself.

'You know him?' Tara asks Kyna.

'He's my twin brother, Lore.'

'And can he run across horses too?'

'No, not like Kyna can.' Lore answers the question himself. 'My Queen, I was just worried about my sister, she is just too inquisitive but she meant no harm tonight and we need to get back to our herd.'

Tara studies the two herders for a moment and then smiles as a thought occurs to her.

'Well, I think, as punishment for your sister's intrusion she will have to stay here and join my Valkyr guards-women.'

This bought a gasp not just from the herders but also the guards present. Tara continues. 'I know, Kyna is too short to be a Valkyr but she makes up for it with agility and inquisitiveness, I am sure none of my guards could climb up into the rafters after her. You, Lore, will return to look after your herd while Kyna trains in swordship with the Valkyr. And as to whether or not I am going through the gate, Kyna, now you have a chance to find out for yourself because where I go, my fearless Valkyr go too.'

**In a barn near Dragon Hill, Wiltshire.**

Sleep quickly catches up with Rob Bowden as he rolls a bale of hay in front of the barn door to keep out any unwanted visitor in the night. He sleeps the heavy, dream-free sleep of the very tired. In his pocket the lead box seems to settle down as well, the gold ring safe inside.

When Rob wakes, thin light is streaming through the slats in the wooden barn walls and he shivers with the morning damp. He stretches, yawns and rubs his eyes. Something feels wrong with his hand and he glances at it as he gets to his feet and for a moment, in a shaft of pale morning sunlight falling across the barn, he imagines the ring is on his finger and his skin is now covered in scales, like snakeskin, silvery green across his knuckles, moving with the pulse of his blood.

Rob rolls the bale of hay back and steps outside into the sunlight, feeling the thin heat beginning to warm his face. He checks his hand again but his skin is normal in the daylight. The gold ring glitters back at him from his finger. He must have put it back on during his sleep. For a second he admires it, the craftsmanship of it and then he thrusts his hands into his pocket and heads off across the field to the nearest road. He needed to find something to eat and drink, after his night in the barn he is really hungry.

Rob arrives at the motorway service station just as they are opening up. He heads for the coffee shop and, digging out a few pound coins from his pocket, buys the largest coffee he can and then slides into a booth near the back of the shop, enjoying the soft padded seating and the warming steam from the coffee. The shop is quiet and quite soon Rob can feel his eyes beginning to shut and so he settles back and lets sleep take hold of him, cap pulled down over his face to avoid any disturbances.

Agnes awakes expecting to find herself in her bed at her London flat, alarm ringing. Instead she finds herself in a small, featureless room with only a bed, chair and desk in it. She slides out from under the covers to find herself still fully dressed. To one side of the room is a door opening onto an en suite shower room. As she moves about the room, the day before comes flooding back, not a dream but reality and immediately sleep and her London flat is far from her mind. After a quick shower and smoothing down her clothes as best she can she opens the door in search of some breakfast. The room is one of many on a mezzanine floor and she pauses to look out across the busy SGCUK floor below. From her vantage point Agnes picks out Daniel, Jack, Teal'c and Peter grouped around a desk station below. They look as though they have been awake for ages and she checks her watch guiltily to find it's only six am. They must have been up with the lark.

A movement above catches Jack's eye and he glances up to see Agnes Dale watching them from the walkway leading to the sleeping quarters. He waves and beckons for her to join them. She would want to see what they are looking at.

On the screen in front of them is a circular signal, spreading out like ripples on a pond. There is a faint, low pulsing sound accompanying the pattern, almost hypnotic in it's regularity.

'What's that?' Agnes asks, too intrigued to remember about breakfast.

'That is the energy signature of one your coins, Agnes, they contain a small amount of an element almost identical to one we've encountered before called Naquadah. A superconducting element that stores massive amounts of power, like a battery only much, much more powerful.' Peter shakes his head. 'Quite extraordinary, we had the twelve novel coins from the hoard couriered here overnight, I've also taken the liberty of having you transferred as a research specialist from the Museum on an ongoing basis.'

Agnes replies, slightly annoyed at being placed on secondment without her prior permission, 'And the Museum agreed to handing over the coins and me, without a problem?'

'When the order comes from very high up in the government, then yes, they did.'

'The government?' Once again Agnes feels totally at a loss as to who and what Stargate Command really is. But Peter chuckles and simply replies. 'You and Daniel have a lot of work to do on those coins, we could really do with a translation in case they mark a location for a gate. Teal'c and Jack are heading out to track down this Robert Bowden character and as soon as we have him, we'll get the ring back here, in case it is a key of some sort. I've sent an archaeology team up to the earthquake site at Dragon Hill to search for any more hoard items or similar Naquadah like materials. Now, I have a meeting with the military liaison team so let's crack on!' With that Peter strides away and Teal'c and Jack follow.

'_Translation!_ Where _on earth _do we start?' Agnes indignantly asks Daniel, standing with her hands on hips as they walk away. Daniel replies softly at her side, 'How about with some breakfast, apparently they serve a very good fry up in the motorway service station topside.'


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

The breakfast is good and Agnes tucks in as Daniel watches her eat. The café is almost deserted save for someone asleep at the back in a booth. 'You must have a lot of unanswered questions about Stargate Command, about everything that you've seen so far.' He asks as he adjusts his glasses.

'Questions? I wouldn't know where to start, this is all _so far out_ of my comfort zone. ' Agnes thinks for a moment, pausing with her fork mid-air, 'Actually, I do have one. How are you involved in all of this? I thought I was contacting an ancient language professor at an American university, not a member of some secret military government space agency?'

Daniel smiles. 'It's a long story.'

'I have a feeling Professor Cromwell is not going to let me leave any time soon so, I'm all ears.'

Rob Bowden wakes with a start from a dream. He had been asleep longer than he thought and the café is beginning to fill up. One or two people are at the counter and a couple are eating breakfast, deep in discussion near the front. He reaches for his coffee only to find it is gone cold and so he drops a few coins on the table as a tip and leaves the café. Time to start. The thought is clear in his head but he is just not sure what it is he needs to start.

Teal'c and Jack survey the ruined side of Dragon Hill in the dawn mist. The reading on the hand-held scanner Jack is holding is unmistakeable, as he suspected, the coins and the box Rob Bowden was holding must hold the same Nadquadh-like material. He calls softly to Teal'c. 'There's a clear signal, with any luck we should be able to track him with this. It leads off down the hill on the same path he ran away on.'

Teal'c and Jack make quick work of following the trail, first to the barn and then onto a series of byways and footpaths, leading in a direction vaguely familiar to them both.

'Are we heading back to the truck stop?' asks Jack.

'Indeed, it would seem so, perhaps food after a night in the barn was his first priority.' Teal'c quickens his step. 'If we are quick, we might catch him there!' he calls over his shoulder to Jack as he breaks into a jog.

Daniel and Agnes both jump as the doors to the coffee shop burst open and Teal'c and Daniel come charging in, both running flat out.

_'Where is he?' _Jack spins around with the monitor, locating a booth at the back of the shop and indicates to Teal'c to move around to the other side as they close in on the table. But they are too late, the booth is empty save for an empty coffee cup and few coins scattered on the table.

'_Dammit!_ He's gone. _Did you two not even see him here?'_ He asks, trying not to get angry.

Agnes' mind is whirling with the story Daniel has just told her about Ra, slaves, distant planets and Stargates and the thought the same thing could be happening here, to her, is almost too much. _'See who?' _she asks irritably. '_You keep acting like everyone here knows what's going on but you explain nothing!'_

'Rob Bowden, that's who... having breakfast right behind your back by the looks of it.'

Agnes starts guiltily at the recollection of a young man asleep at the back when they arrived. 'Well, it never occurred to either of us it was Rob Bowden. He had his cap pulled down over his face!'

'Do not worry, Agnes, he can not have gone far. Come Jack, we can still catch him. If we run.' Teal'c starts for the door again.

_'_Great, more running, just what I need.' Jack mutters under his breath._ '_Next time you two, try paying more attention... _hold on Teal'c, not fair, you got a head start!'_

Later, Daniel and Agnes stare at the twelve coins laid out in their individual cases on a table in the SGCUK laboratory assigned to them.

'If we assume they are co-ordinates to get to Thuban, or more likely, MG3alpha, do we even need to translate them, can't we simply dial them into one of your Stargates and go there?' Agnes carefully opens a box and places the coin into the palm of her hand.

Well, firstly none of our gates have any of these symbols on and secondly we've only ever needed seven or nine glyphs to fix a destination.' Daniel explains patiently, ' Six for the or eight for points in space, the seventh or ninth for a destination gate or a distance beyond a galaxy. I have never seen theses symbols anywhere, in any galaxy I've visited, or, on any gate anywhere and yet they all have this White Horse symbol on them on the back, the same one that was metres high on your earthquake hill.'

'Dragon Hill..' Agnes absent-mindedly corrects him. '..hey, wasn't the ring that Rob Bowden wearing a dragon?'

'Yes! Good point.' Daniel calls up the photo Jack took on one of the nearby monitors.

'Yes! Does it match any of the glyphs?'

'No... look at the way he's looking at it though, like it's his precious!'

'His what?'

'Nothing... just a Tolkien reference, not a fan of fantasy books then Daniel, after all you've been through?' Agnes teases him.

Daniel chuckles quietly and replies, 'I think my reality far outstrips any novel. More than enough fantasy for one lifetime.'

'And yet here you are, looking for adventure again.'

'I didn't go looking, you emailed the pictures of the coins to me, remember!' Daniel replies slightly indignantly.

'I'm teasing you!' Agnes laughs out loud, a cheerfully infectious laugh and for no good reason he can understand, Daniel finds himself smiling at her broadly. 'On a more serious note, I'd say the style of the dragon carving isn't the same as the coins.'

'You're right,' Agnes returns to work. 'It _is_ a different style. If we assume it was in with the hoard, it could be the same age but from a separate culture or tribe. A trade item maybe?'

'So, possibly two different cultures and two different language sets, assuming, as with other Stargate glyphs these have a word associated with them...'

'..or just a pretty dragon ring with no language value whatsoever.' Agnes concludes.

'Well, I'd say it's a dead end for now without any more items to compare it with.' Daniel remembers something Agnes had said yesterday. 'You said something yesterday, about new research up at Stonehenge, I meant to ask what it is, it could be relevant.'

'Stonehenge?' Agnes thinks for a moment then remembers, yesterday seems like a lifetime ago with all that has happened since. 'That reminds me, I need to find out what happened to my car as well... yes, the new discoveries. More features in the landscape... Hold on, I'll pull up the video on the internet... no coins were found though.'

'I think Professor Cromwell is onto something with the thought of Stonehenge being a replica of off-world technology, something once seen by an indigenous population on these isles and perhaps kept alive in their collective memory through stories or songs, or carvings on hillsides. The site could well overlay the real gate or temple that the gate was housed in, the labyrinth symbol on the front of the coins is found all across Europe, it points to what could have been a large Empire stretching from here to the edge of Asia, one to rival and pre-date Ra in ancient Egypt.'

Daniel watches intently until an area called 'Blick Mead' is described, in use centuries before Stonehenge was built. Agnes almost gasps, it fits exactly what Daniel had just described.

'It's only a short distance from where we are.' She says, an idea forming in her mind. Without thinking she slips the coin she is holding into a pocket and grabs her jacket, searching for her car keys at the same time. 'Come on, let's find my car, Jack said it was being brought back here, then we can head over there and see what we can find.'

Daniel and Agnes park her car in a lay-by and head on foot through the scrubby woodland to where the archaeological dig had taken place at Blick Mead. The ground starts to rise towards the old hill fort nestling in a bend in the river Avon. Here and there springs well up after the heavy winter rains, feeding into small streams, slowly working their way to the river nearby.

After exploring the area for an hour or so and finding little evidence of anything they are about to leave when they stumble across a large, circular spring pool hidden in dense woodland further upstream. To Daniel it immediately looks too symmetrical to me a natural formation and so he starts to search its bank for any evidence of being made. After ten minutes or so of searching he stubs the toe of his boot on a rock protruding from the ground and hops around cursing for a second or two as Agnes clears back the undergrowth to reveal a piece of carved rock jutting out of the ground. They work together to pry it loose from its hole and eventually pull out a piece of broken masonry, part carved with a woman flanked by two horses.

'Epona!' Daniel sighs. A relic from Roman Britain, no doubt. Agnes nods in agreement, a depiction of the horse Goddess Epona, one of many Gods and Goddesses worshipped throughout Europe in Roman times.

'Beautiful carving. I wonder what it's doing here?'

'Perhaps the pool was used for rituals to her.' Daniel sits down after the exertion of excavating the stone and, finding a small, flat pebble nearby, tosses it into the water, watching as a set of concentric rings spread out over the surface. Agnes searches in her pocket for a tissue to wipe the mud from her hands when she finds the coin and she pulls it out and stares at the labyrinth on the front as the ripples spread out in front of her. 'Daniel, what if this isn't a labyrinth at all, what if it's a symbol for ripples on water instead.' She holds the coin out to him and he stares at the symbol and then back at the pond. She continues, 'You said the gate creates a sort a stable wormhole like a whirlpool of water, what if this isn't a symbol of a maze at all but a pictogram of the vortex itself?'


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**On the planet Epona **

Kyna takes a step back to steady herself as she holds the short, double-edged, pattern welded sword high in one hand, using the other to regain her balance. To either side of her two Valkyr tower above her, circling her slowly in a decreasing spiral, making ground, their blunt training steel still glittering in the early morning light of the central courtyard of the Queen's Hall.

Last night, under instructions from Queen Tara, Kyna was taken to the Valkyr's quarters and given a small, bare cell with a bunk and a wash bucket and then told to wait until called for training in the morning. At dawn she was summoned to the Valkyr's armourer but there was nothing suitable due to her size save for the small double-edged sword she is wielding now. But Kyna doesn't mind, the breastplate, greaves and shield would only have weighed her down, her speed and agility would be her armour. Now, after two hours of chasing her round the courtyard, she can tell the two Valkyr are beginning to feel the heat and weight of their uniform.

Light is streaming into the courtyard as the sun climbs higher and Kyna can see a way to defeat both guards as she forces them to follow her into its path. While one is monetarily blinded by the dazzling glare, Kyna leaps onto her, forcing the Valkyr to abandon her sword and shield as she falls backwards. Kyna uses her sprawling body as a springboard onto the other guard, knocking her shield clear and pinning her to the ground with the point of her sword. From a shaded balcony overlooking the courtyard there is a round of applause and a familiar voice rings out.

'Well done Kyna, I can see my champions will have to keep their wits about them if they are to train you. I see you have found a weapon, a Xiphos?'

'Yes, my Queen.' Kyna takes a small bow and holds up the blade to the light, 'I'm calling it Raizor' As she paddles it in the sunlight, a dazzling rainbow of reflected light falls across the courtyard.

'Well, just make sure Kyna, you don't injure Cailin and Myrna too much in your training session.' And with that Tara leaves and Kyna turns to find the two Valkyr ready and waiting for her. She squares her shoulders and charges at them, blade flashing in the sunshine.

**On Earth, near Stonehenge.**

Teal'c and Jack crouch low beside a hedge and watch as Rob Bowden staggers across the ploughed field, clutching his arm as though in pain. They had tracked him from the café through the local countryside to this field and are surprised to find him out in the open and acting very strangely.

Rob holds his arm close to his chest, the weight of the ring almost unbearable. He has tried to remove it but it's become part of him, sealing itself to his flesh, eating in to him. The dragon writhes in the gold seal and every time he glances at it, it seems to devour him more, his mind filled with its eyes and its hunger. He feels like screaming and screaming in terror and pain and he wishes with every fibre of his being he had never found those coins or the small box the ring was in. But he cannot change his destiny and the Dragon King's soul, released from it's burial tomb by the power of the Ring, the great seal of Epona torn apart as though by an earthquake, carries on eating into his mind as the Ring of Nixor claims its next bearer, giving human flesh and form to Nixor, the Dragon once more.

Finally, Rob gives way to the screaming torment raging inside him and shrieks out loud, clawing at his own flesh with his nails and then collapsing in a heap to the ground. Teal'c and Jack seize the moment and rush over to restrain him, only to find him unconscious, blood welling from the deep scratches on his arms.

Jack radios in for a medical evacuation team and within half an hour they have Rob Bowden safely secured in the medical isolation unit back at SGC UK, the in-house doctor and his team on hand to help him. Behind the safety of the glass isolation window Teal'c and Jack are joined by Prof. Peter Cromwell, keen to find out what had happened.

'...and then he collapsed, as though he was suffering a great torment. ' Finishes Teal'c, adding, 'Jack called for the helicopter while I tried to revive him. But he has been like this since.'

Peter shakes his head and sighs. 'Never mind. At least we have him here, safe as he can be. The ring artefacts?'

'The doctor is trying to remove the ring, we have the box it was in, looks like the same material as the coins.' Jack hands over the small box that contained the dragon ring. 'We found nothing else on him.'

'Well, it's something I guess, I'll get my team to analyse this too.' Peter hurries away while Jack and Teal'c watch as Rob Bowden suddenly starts to writhe in his unconscious state as though fighting a demon, arms and legs thrashing about. The doctor calls over a couple of nurses and they start to place restrains on his arms and legs in an effort to stop him falling off the bed while the doctor administers a heavy sedative to calm him down.

**On the planet Epona **

Kyna drops to the floor, arm aching from the weight of the sword, as Myrna calls a halt to the morning's training session. 'No good sitting there, Kyna, as novice you get to go and draw the water for us!' Cailin hands Kyna the water bucket, 'Off you run to the well. We shall be waiting for you to brew our tea at our quarters!' the two Valkyr chuckle as Kyna groans and gets to her feet. She takes the bucket ungraciously and heads off back through the maze of corridors and courtyards that sprawl around the Queen's Hall. Within a short time she is completely lost and ends up following a quiet, colonnaded walkway through to an empty courtyard lost in dappled shade from an overhanging glade of trees. In the centre is a large, circular pool and with relief Kyna rushes forward to fill her bucket with its water only to pull up short at the pool's edge. Had the water just moved? Perhaps it is a trick of the light but as Kyna stares the surface of the pond ripples outwards in a perfect set of concentric rings. As Kyna watches the ripples appear faster from the centre of the pool and then, without warning, a vortex of water reaches up into the sky, a whirling maelstrom hanging there, suspended in time in the air. Kyna drops the bucket and, without thinking through her actions, leans forward with her sword and and pierces the waterspout with the blade.

Her world falls silent and Kyna feels as though her arm has disappeared for an eternity, biting cold numbing it to the core so it is all she can do to hold on to Raizor and not be dragged through the vortex. It is as though the sky is trying to swallow her whole and she heaves her arm back from the vortex just as the water falls away to nothing and the pool returns its still, reflective self. She sinks to the ground and stares at the water and without knowing why, after all the strange things that had happened over the last day, this is the thing that makes her cry. Suddenly aware, with the slimmest of glimpses of an eternity of space, how very alone she is in the Hall of the Queen. Far from her brother, her family and her horses running free over the plains.

**On Earth, near Blick Mead.**

Agnes holds the coin out in front of her and leans over the pool with it, trying to angle it so the image matches the ripples on the surface. 'Watch out, you'll fall in.' Daniel comments dryly as Agnes teeters on the edge. Without warning a large ripple suddenly spreads out from the centre, splashing Agnes's feet. 'Hey stop throwing stones in, I'm getting wet!' But Daniel scrambles to his feet. 'I'm not throwing stones, look, I think it's the effect of the coin!' He grabs hold of Agnes at the very moment a vortex of water leaps out from the surface of the pool and hangs suspended in the air, Agnes stares, open mouthed in shock at the sight and then, before either of them can say a word, a hand holding a sword aloft appears from the water. In surprise Agnes drops the coin and it hits a small rock and bounces off into the undergrowth as the water spout collapses back to the pool and the arm is gone.

'Did that just happen?' asks Agnes, completely at a loss as to what to do. 'Did I just see the Lady of the Lake?'

'If you mean, did a wormhole just open in the middle of the pool and an arm holding a sword appear from another galaxy, very much like the Arthurian legend, while you held one of the hoard coins over the water, then yes, that did just happen.'

'And I thought yesterday was weird.' Agnes shakes her head and sits down suddenly, her legs feeling like jelly. 'Oh no! I dropped the coin... it must have rolled away somewhere.'

'Well, we'd better find it, wouldn't want it falling into the wrong hands.' Daniel and Agnes start searching for the coin as the pool behind them returns to its mirror smooth surface under the spring sky.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight **

**On the plains of Epona**

Lore, sitting on a brown mare, watches from his vantage point on a low bluff overlooking a favourite waterhole of the herd. Stretching out across the undulating grass plains are over five hundred land horses, sturdy creatures with a steady temperament. A small herd as herds went out on the prairies but, now there is only him to look after them, Lore is glad of the modest number. He tries not to think about what his twin sister Kyna might be up to but keeps his eyes firmly focused on the waterhole. Just in case. There had been rumours swirling among the camps and auction paddocks of raiding parties of Naxen men emerging from waterholes to snatch horses from under the noses of the herders. Of whole herds swallowed up by rivers under their control and of prairie encampments being devoured by sink-holes and mud slides engineered by them. Even the prairies are shrinking, grassland giving over to swamp, an inexorable rising tide of disaster for the horse tribes of Epona. Talk too, of bigger fears, the return of the Dragon King Nixor from his long exile. The rise of the Naxen under his command. All rumours and whispers sending panic like wildfire through the horse herders.

Farther down the shallow vale the waterhole nestles in, a spring rises, forming a shallow bog before gradually merging into a stream, cutting a channel through the plains and forests, until it widens its way, rushing towards the city of Hall Mead, home of the Queen's Hall and the Great Hall. Hall Mead stands near the confluence of this torrent called the Silver Ribbon and the slow, wide Quagmyre, the great marshland river from the Naxenlands. At Hall Mead the rivers merge and then plummet the thousand feet from the prairies, forests and marshland plateau to the deep oceans of Epona. Hall Mead was built around the fabled Gate of the Twins, a circular pool of spring water deep in the heart of the city. The Hall of the Queen, a sprawling palace of stone and wooden halls all interconnected with corridors, cloisters and courtyards had been built around this sacred pool first for defence then, centuries later, as the city grew, as a palace for the Horse Queen.

As children, all horse herders heard the tales of a gateway leading through pool to the Twin Stars and on to other worlds. The stories of Nixor the Dragon King who tries to lay waste to the Horse lands of Epona, who devoured all the Kelpies and Pegasai and who was vanquished by the brave Queen of Epona to a planet far, far away was one of Lore's favourite childhood stories. The thought it could all be true and not just a children's bedtime story fills him with fear for his sister. Was she too, travelling with the Queen through the gate to a different world across the skies? Lore sighs a deep sigh and his horse whinnies softly in reply. He strokes its mane and then whispers to it, 'Ask the Spirit of the Kin to keep Kyna safe for me, Castan.' The horse nods in reply, whether acknowledging its name or the request, Lore cannot tell but it comforts him all the same.

**In the marshes of Naxenland**

Gryst wakes with a coughing fit, phlegm sticking to his gills and clogging the airways to his lungs. He coughs violently, bringing up a plug of mucus and gillslime and wiping it from his gills with a greyish, warty hand. Gryst can remember a time when he woke without the curse of gillslime, when his joints didn't ache from the cold and when his eyes still burnt firebright like Nixor's rage. But sixty years of living in the marsh pit he called home had taken its toll. He rises from his shallow reed bed and submerges himself in his water bath, glad to close the air passages to his lungs and feel the warmish marsh water flow over his gills again. The Naxen possessed both lungs and gills, plus an extra protective eyelid they could see through while swimming underwater and while few still had webbed feet, hands or a dorsal fin, many, like Gryst still had vestigial silver scales running down their spines and mottled grey skin. He blows a fine trail of bubbles as he exercises his aching body, swimming quickly to his breakfast, stashed in his underwater larder. The horse flesh is rubbery and old, beginning to leather in the brackish water and Gryst does his best to chew a through a few lumps and then gives it up as a bad job. He surfaces again and climbs ashore, feeling his lungs fill with the misty air of a damp morning on the marshes of the Naxenlands.

He hauls a large bundle of items, wrapped in a woven waterproof reed cloth from the marsh and unwraps a tight-fitting body suit of green reed cloth that he pulls on, shivering slightly in the cold air. He selects his largest horse harpoon and slings it over a shoulder, then bundles up the rest and lowers it back under the water. Time to head to the river Quagmyre and the raiding shoal he boasted he could lead straight to the Gate of the Twins once they reached the Hall of the Queen. Gryst almost rued the moment he let the moonwine loosen his tongue last night. The Naxen War Council were keen for more volunteers and the moonwine had flowed freely at the Spawning Holt. It was a fool's errand to try and breach the gate. To try and free Nixor from his distant tomb. But Gryst hadn't lied, he did know where the Gate of the Twins was, had spent many a night in his youth swimming through the wells and water ducts of Hall Mead. Once they reached the Hall of the Queen, he could find the pool easily. And maybe, if he is lucky, he would have a heroes' death and not this slow rot he was being consumed by.

By the time he reaches the meeting point on the river bank a large shoal of Naxen men are assembled and waiting their orders. The War Councillor pulls Gryst close to him and whispers, '_You better not have lied Gryst, because this is a one way ticket through the gate, we'll only return triumphant under the flames of Nixor, the Dragon King or not at all. So, if you lie, tell me now and I'll run you through with your own harpoon.'_

'I tell the truth, Garble, I know the way to the gate.' Gryst pulls away irritably from the young leader and slides into the middle of the shoal as they form ranks on the riverbank. As one, they dive, row after row, into the deep waters of the Quagmyre, swimming in formation downstream, barely a bubble breaking the surface as they glide by.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**On Earth at SGCUK**

As the doors to the express lift open, Daniel and Agnes are confronted with scene of frenzied activity across the main floor of the underground SGC. Daniel grabs a passing soldier and asks 'Hey! What on earth is going on?'

'The Medical evacuation team have bought in Bob Bowden in a critical state and there has been a massive energy spike detected somewhere in the vicinity of Stonehenge, the Professor is looking for you both, Sir, he's in the medical isolation unit' The young soldier salutes them and carries on his way.

'That spike was probably caused by us. We had better go and explain what we've found.' Agnes guiltily holds the coin tighter in her hand as they head off for the isolation unit.

**Inside the Isolation Unit**

'Ah, _here_ you both are! Events have moved on since your breakfast upstairs, where have you been, sightseeing perhaps or souvenir hunting?' Professor Peter Cromwell glares at the pair of them, his manner is brusque, hand outstretched as though waiting to be given something. Agnes, sensing a certain amount of antagonism in his tone which seems to be lost on Daniel, replies quickly before Daniel can put his foot in it. 'After working on a theory over breakfast we went out to test it and were successful, we found the gate. I think the power spike you monitored was us testing it with this...' she drops the coin into his outstretched hand.

'You've managed to translate this coin you removed without permission from my command centre?' Peter glares at Daniel who finally works out they are in trouble. 'Oh, yes, I see... sorry... but um, we don't have to translate it as such, the gate doesn't have a dial...'

'Stop, not in here! Put your findings in a report, you can brief the team at 1300 hrs., meeting room one. You must understand this is a highly classified, sensitive situation. The general public does not need to be alerted to our work here, hence our base being secret. Please, no more working breakfasts, jaunts out or removal of classified material without, and I cannot stress this enough, without permission from me...' The professor breaks off as a howl from inside the plastic isolation tent in the centre of the room makes all the hair stand up on the back of his neck. A medical team are working quietly at the far side of the room and nearby Teal'c and Commander Jack O'Neill are watching intently the occupant of the tent.

'Don't worry, he's quite secure,' Jack nonchalantly pats the plastic tent wall, 'Meet Robert 'Rob' Bowden, or as I'm calling him... the amazing lizard man.'

Daniel and Agnes step closer and stare in shock at the sight before them. Strapped to a medical gurney is Rob Bowden looking nothing like his picture now. His skin is ashimmer with a roiling coat of sea-green and silver scales moving as though in time with his spasms as the fat and flesh beneath turns to sinew and muscle. His nails are growing as they watch, curving like talons, scratching on the rails of the gurney. On one of his fingers is the ring with its dragon motif, one of the few remaining distinguishable features on his body. As they watch, mesmerised by the slow transformation, the heart monitor alarm triggers and the medical team rush over to start working on his body through the tent arm apetures as Bowden's heart stops beating.

_'We're losing him...charging... stand clear... '_ The doctor applies electrical paddles to Rob's chest and his body arcs under the current but the ECG stays flat. The doctor tries twice more but the ECG resolutely displays a flat line and the doctor shakes his head at Peter Cromwell and says, 'Too much for his heart, I'm calling time of death at 11.47am.'

Agnes is visibly shocked by what she has just witnessed and Teal'c lays a calming hand on her shoulder. 'It is perhaps better for Robert Bowden he did not survive his torment. Who knows what he would have become.'

**Meeting Room One**

Promptly at one pm Daniel and Agnes present their findings from the morning to Teal'c, Jack, the Professor and his team. As Daniel talks, Agnes reflects on the horrible death she witnessed earlier. Any anger at being told off for leaving SGC without permission had been quickly quenched by the agonised death throes of poor Rob Bowden. For the first time Agnes can see the need for a secure, secret military operation like this, to protect the public and keep them safe. It wasn't all science fiction and fantasy, it was the very real matter of life and death.

'And so... I._. we_ think the four sets of coins each point to a different planet beyond the twin star of Thuban, maybe all in the same galaxy. The labyrinth symbol on the coin being a pictogram of the Stargate vortex, the coin itself must act like a pre-set radio channel tuned in to the coordinates and opening the gate automatically... like a remote control... Interestingly enough, this labyrinth symbol has been widely found across ancient Europe and further afield, often on coins, perhaps a collective memory that found its way into popular culture or as an attempt to emulate these coins...'

Jack can sense Daniel wandering off into one of his archaeological rambles and asks, 'So the coins are a key to the Stargate?'

'Yes... gate tokens really, not coins at all, no monetary value...'

'Gate tokens?' Peter raises an eyebrow at Daniel's name for them.

'Um.. yes. Gate tokens... or tickets or maybe...or keys, a key is a good way to...'

'More importantly, where does the ring Rob Bowden is.. was wearing fit into all this. Did the ring cause him to.. to metamorphose into whatever creature that was? And, are there any more of the creature he was turning into waiting through the gate?' Agnes' questions cuts through Daniel's' rambling and makes everyone sit up. 'Were any more dragon artefacts found out at the earthquake sight?'

'No, nor at Bowden's flat or any of the places he visited since the finding the hoard. We've done extensive signature readings for the Naquadah-like element and all we have found is the route taken by the coins and the box the ring was in. Not the ring itself.' Peter answers, checking a text message and standing up and making his way to the door. 'Robert Bowden's death has made it even more critical we find out what we are dealing with. Jack I want you to put together a team for a reconnaissance mission through the gate, take one of each coin with you just in case you need a return token/ticket thing. Schedule it for 06.00 hrs. tomorrow, I've just had confirmation of clearance for gate use from the Prime Minister. As from now we are on a security lock-down. Organise a team at the pool site to set up a mile perimeter. I'll get the doctor to remove the dragon ring from Bowden's body and we can run tests on it and him and see if there is a connection or if there is some other force at work. Now I have a lunch appointment with the Defence Minister, let's start joining up those dots team, let's find out who, where and what we are dealing with before the gate opens for the Equinox.

**On Epona, at the Gate of the Twins**

Tara pauses on the threshold of the low doorway, cut into the wall of her sleeping chamber, hidden behind ancient tapestries then, confident no one is nearby, slips through into the small, windowless tunnel beyond. She follows the steep twists and turns without the aid of light, knowing the way by heart, feeling the air cool as the tunnel drops down through the palace and into the maze of courtyards. After ten minutes of walking she reaches the door at he other end and gently slides the bolt back and the it swings open silently on oiled hinges. For millenia she has used this route to reach the Gate of the Twins, using it as a quiet place to contemplate, plan, simply to be alone. As Tara's eyes adjust to the light she realises the courtyard of the gate is not empty. Someone is sitting by the pool. For a moment Tara's hand drifts to her sword and she she almost draws it, ready to leap forward before she recognises who it is.

'Kyna! What are you doing here? How did you find this place.' Tara asks her sharply, unsure how Kyna would have found the gate, so well hidden in the maze of courtyards.

'My Queen, I... I was sent to fetch water from the well courtyard and lost my way... I thought this was a waterhole... but it's not.' Kyna sniffs back her tears. Tara notices her tear stained face and softens her tone. Sensing there is more to say, she prompts Kyna, 'And?'

'And I think I fell through the world... my arm at least.'

'Fell through the world? _You opened the gate?' _

'The gate?'

'Kyna, this pool is the Gate of the Twins but it can only be opened with a Royal Doublet, how did you get hold of one?'

Kyna stares at Tara and then at the pool. 'This is the gate to the other planets?'

'Yes, now the Doublet, please.' Tara holds out a hand for the coin but Kyna simply shrugs her shoulders. 'I have no coin, the gate opened and closed on it's own accord. Like a water spout. It scared me.'

'On it's own?' Tara draws in a deep breath, a frown appearing on her face. Kyna can sense something is wrong and hopes she is not in more trouble. 'Isn't it meant to?' She asks tentatively.

'No, it is not. Someone must have tried to open it at the other end, on a planet called Celestia. It is time for me to return there, I have left it far too long and far too late. I tried so hard to forget, to sever the ties...' Tara seems to drift off in thought somewhere else, 'I have made many mistakes in my impetuous youth, Kyna, learn from me, learn from your mistakes, do not ignore them, time only makes it worse. Come with me, there is no time to lose, tonight we will travel through the gate to finish what was started a long time ago.'


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**In the Isolation Unit at SGC-UK**

Inside the isolation tent the doctor bends over Rob Bowden's hand, a hand held electric rotary saw at the ready. He turns on the power and and the blade starts spinning with a high pitched whine and, as he is checking the ring is still stuck, he is about to saw through Rob's finger when the ring seems to release itself and fall away easily in his hand. The doctor stares in surprise at the ring, sitting in the palm of his gloved hand. He shakes his head, turns off the power tool and places the ring in a small plastic zip bag and seals it up tightly. He exits the isolation tent and checks the readings from the monitors. Whatever had possessed Rob Bowden was now long gone and he absent mindedly places the bag on top of the workbench as he disconnects the equipment. He tells his team to take down the tent and put the body in the freezer room reserved as a temporary morgue, then busies himself with typing up his report on the morning's bizarre events.

Rob Bowden wakes with a start. He is freezing. At first he thinks he is still in the barn he spent the night in, a frost forming on his hands and face, then he notices the noise of a pump and the glow of an electric sensor light and realises he is not lying on straw but a metal trolley. He jumps up, his body aching with cold but where is he? He tries to remember what happened, he remembers a bright light, a feeling of leaving, a torment, a dragon... At the thought of a dragon, he reaches for the ring but his finger is bare. He carefully climbs off the trolley in the darkness and feels for a wall, finding it a meter away. He follows it round till he reaches a door and tries the handle. Because it is a freezer store and not a proper mortuary, the catch opens and the cold air floods out into the room beyond. Rob blinks in the bright light while checking the room is empty, then closes the freezer door behind him. He is in some kind of store room, shelves stacked with boxes of supplies, rations, uniforms, equipment. Rob quickly makes his way to the door and glances out onto the walkway beyond. It is empty but he slides a nearby chair under the door handle just in case then sets about ripping open boxes to find some warm clothes and something to drink.

**On Epona, in the water ducts of Hall Mead.**

'Which way now Gryst?' Garble irritably shakes his head as the shoal reaches yet another branching of the waterway. Gryst pauses for a moment, placing a hand on the slimy walls feeling for a mark he made many many years ago. Gryst swims off down the right hand tunnel without waiting for anyone else and Garble sighs and sends yet another group of men down the left hand tunnel, just in case. At this rate, they would be but a handful by the time they reached the gate.

Gryst ignores the muttering and complaining Garble and continues down the water duct running deep under the Queen's Hall.

The water runs clearer, colder now, as the remainder of the shoal finally swim through into a vast underwater cavern housing the palace's aquifer. Gryst stands up in the shallow depths of the water, glad to shake free the water from his gills and breathes in the icy air in sharp gasps. Barble follows him and waits until his lungs have filled several times before counting how many Naxen men are left. 'We are but a shoal of twenty now.' he complains, 'How will we take the gate with so few?'

'The gate is not guarded, you should worry more about how we breach it to fall through to the realm of the Celestians.' Gryst smiles at him, a thin, cruel tease of a smile.

_'Not guarded?' _Garble is shocked by Gryst's words.

'No, not guarded. They think their maze of passageways and courtyards is enough. But they have forgotten the old Naxen ways, the water lands, the creeping marshes this city was reclaimed from... this,' Gryst sweeps a hand through the icy water, ' This is how we reach the Gate of the Twins.'

Gryst dives back under the water before Garble can question him further and swims towards a dark shadow in the far wall of the aquifer cavern. Garble signals to the remainder of the Naxen shoal to follow and swims after Gryst, following him into a narrow, rough-hewn tunnel that scrapes his scales for several hundred feet. Garble emerges, spluttering slightly, into the shadows of an empty courtyard. He hauls his body out of the narrow drain and stands, water dripping from his skin. In front of him Gryst is sitting at the edge of a circular pool smiling his triumphant, teasing smile. 'See Garble, this is the Gate of the Twins. Now, you tell me, how you plan to breach it!'

'I don't plan to breach it, I plan to open it.' Garble waits till his twenty men have all arrived and then strides towards the pool. 'Thank you, Gryst, you may join the war party at the rear, I'll lead from here.' Garble steps to the edge of the pool and then coughs, regurgitating up something Gryst cannot quite see from his gullet.

'What's that?' Gryst asks, not keen to lose his position in the shoal.

'_This?_ This is a _Doublet_, looted in a Naxen raid many centuries ago. The War Council have kept it safe for this moment. We will open the gate and wake Nixor from his Celestian tomb, we will return with a new Dragon army to wipe the Kin from the face of Epona when the gates open on the equinox. We will be Warlords here and on the four planets and we will worship our rightful King, Nixor, Dragon King of the Four Worlds. But first I must signal the rest of the shoal, dispersed in the city, they will distract the Valkyr while we open the gate.' Garble retrieves a small water reedle he has tucked behind his gills and very carefully places it between his two thumbs, cupping his webbed fingers into a large resonating bowl and then gently blows across the reedle. The low note with a particular resonating frequency it produces spreads out through the air, vibrating with any water it meets and, in particular, the mucus glands all Naxen men possess in their gullets. An almost silent signal only the Naxen can feel. Garble waits for the first sounds of alarm from the far corners of the palace then throws the doublet into the pool. It spins out in the falling light then sinks without trace below the water, leaving only a ripple spreading out across the surface.

**On Earth, in the Isolation Unit**

Rob Bowden glances through the small porthole window in the door into the isolation unit. It looks empty but just to be sure, Rob straightens his uniform, pulls his cap low over his hair and eyes and tucks the clipboard he found in the supply store under his arm efficiently and strides into the unit purposefully. The room is empty but a small plastic bag on one of the workbenches catches his eye. He glances at its contents and his heart skips a beat as he recognises the ring inside. He is about to open it when the doctor interrupts him carrying a sandwich and a coffee. 'Hello? Can I help you?'

'Sir!' Rob salutes smartly and waves the clipboard at the doctor. 'I have orders to retrieve the ring, Sir.'

'Oh? Yes! Yes... of course, take it, take it... do you need me to sign? You look very familiar... are you part of the medical team?'

'Sorry Sir, this is required urgently.' Rob swiftly leaves the isolation unit and for a moment the doctor stares after him, with the strangest feeling they had met before, then he shakes his head and returns to finishing his report.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**Alarms on Epona **

Across the city the guards, on leopard-spotted horses, keep watch while the city's inhabitants prepare for the last meal of the day. Now, in the slowing warmth of late afternoon, the horse guards strident-horns are ringing out all over the city, as the Naxen shoal begin their attack. Their alarms bring guards streaming out of their barracks and heading out across the city towards the alarms as market places and tavern halls empty and children run for home.

Kyna, eating a bowl of thick stew in the Valkyr mess hall, leaps to her feet at the sound of the alarm and is about to rush out to help when Myrna places a hand on her shoulder. 'Not so fast, Kyna, the guards and the rest of the Valkyr will deal with it. Our task is to protect the Queen, come we must be at her side.'

Kyna follows Cailin and Myrna to the Queen's dining hall, where they find Tara pacing up and down. A guard is briefing her on what is happening in the city.

'Naxen raids in all the farthest corners of the city, my Queen, as far as we can ascertain, this is a well planned attack. A Naxen shoal must have used the water ducts to gain such widespread access to the city...'

_'A Naxen shoal?'_ Kyna can't help but interrupt. She had only ever heard rumours of the shoal formations used by the Naxen.

'But they are thinly spread, my Queen, isolated into small groups. We will beat them back, it seems a futile plan of attack. They will suffer heavy losses at out hands.'

Tara stops pacing and shakes her head. 'Not futile, they are drawing our guards out to the edges of the city to distract us from their real objective... the Gate of the Twins. It is as we have been warned. I thought I had time to travel through before an attack... _hurry, we must get to the gate before they breach it!'_

**Alarms on Earth**

Agnes glances up from the screen in front of her displaying the hundred and forty four glyphs and, for a moment, her eyes rest on Dr. Daniel Jackson. He is busy comparing the labyrinth symbols on a range of coins from antiquity with the gate vortex symbol on the hoard coins. He intuitively glances at her at the same time and their eyes meet momentarily. Agnes smiles and Daniel, almost immediately overcome with shyness at her honest smile of approval, looks away awkwardly, busying himself with the coins, desperately trying not to blush.

'Any luck with that symbol?' she asks, trying to diffuse the silence.

'Um, no.. not really. Nothing is an exact match and yet they are almost an echo of it. As though the stargates were hidden in plain sight in our archaeological record. I am pretty certain the only gate tokens we have so far are the ones in the hoard. How about you, any luck yet?'

Agnes chuckles to herself at his unintended double entendre, 'Not yet, Dr, Jackson, but working on it.' This time she grins broadly at him and Daniel can feel the blush rise up his face. 'I meant with the symbols.'

'So did I Daniel. Why, whatever did you think I meant?' It's a relief to laugh about something else rather than dwell on the awful fate of Robert Bowden and Agnes can feel the pent up stress from earlier slip away. Before Daniel can think of a suitable answer a siren sounds and he looks out of the door of their office to see what's going when Jack O'Neill runs past with a detail of guards.

'Hey! Jack, what's happening?' Daniel manages to catch Jack's arm as he rushes past, pulling him to one side as the deafening alarm sends people running in all directions across the atrium of SG command.

_'The dragon ring is missing, the doctor is certain he left it in the isolation unit, I went to check to see if it was still on the corpse of Rob Bowden and now his body is missing too.'_

'Someone took the ring and the body?' What Jack is saying doesn't make any sense. 'The lift is the only one way out of here, surely someone would notice a body being removed?'

'You'd think so. Gotta go!' Jack runs off to catch up with his guards and Daniel relays the news to Agnes.

**On Epona at the Gate of the Twins**

Barble clears his gullet, breaking the sudden silence in the courtyard as the ripples fade on the water's surface. 'Nicely done, Gryst, looks like you've led us to the wrong pool, you'd better get in there and retrieve it while we work out where the _real_ Gate is!' The sneering tone would normally have been enough to send Gryst into a rage but before he can answer, four Kin burst through a doorway in the courtyard, their blades drawn. As the Naxen and Kin start to fight, Gryst edges closer to the pool and peers in, in the clear water he can see the doublet resting on the bottom near the edge and so he slips into the pool and reaches down to pick it up. The moment his clammy hand closes around the coin there is a loud whooshing sound and the water around him starts to rise and turn, spinning into a giant vortex, engulfing him and cutting him off from the rest of the courtyard, through the wall of water he can hear the screams and shouts of the others as the Valkyr mercilessly cut them down and then he can see nothing except a blade reaching in through the vortex for him.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**On Epona at the Gate of the Twins**

Seeing a gap in the melee, Kyna leaps forward through the wall of the water vortex, sword outstretched in front of her, feeling the same sudden strange weightless sensation as though the universe is trying to pull her apart. Then she is through and facing a Naxen, cowering in the vortex void, a Doublet in his outstretched hand. 'Take it!' he shrieks, his harpoon forgotten on his back. _'Please, mercy!'_

Kyna pushes the point of her Xiphos up under his gills and reaches a hand around the Doublet in his hand just as Tara, Myrna and Cailin leap through into the void. Tara, seeing Kyna is about to touch the coin, throws her arms around her as the key unlocks the Stargate and opens the door to Celestia. For an instant Kyna can see everything happen in slow motion, see her hand over the coin, see the Naxen grab her hand, see Tara throw her arms around her then nothing, the void contracts and she is nothing and nowhere at all.

The water wall of the vortex stops spinning and falls back to the surface of the pool, flattening out with barely a ripple as Myrna and Cailin stand dazed and confounded by the sudden disappearance of their Queen, Kyna and the last Naxen in the courtyard. The place is littered with dead Naxen and already there is the smell of rot in the air. Beyond the courtyard is the sound of fighting and Myrna and Cailin move to the doorway. 'We should defend this place, the Queen may well return through the pool.' Cailin gestures to the gate and Myrna nods in agreement and they take up sentry duty until their Queen returns.

**Through the Stargate **

The vortex reaches up above the pool and then as quickly as it started, falls away, leaving nothing but a ripple on the water surface and a huddle of bodies, knee deep in the pool's shallows.

Tara lets go of Kyna and leaps out of the water but there is no sign of anyone, only a quiet pool in a glade of trees, a cold breeze picking up their leaves and shaking them. Kyna wades after her, unsure as to where or how or what just happened and behind her, on his knees in the pool is the Naxen, breathing heavily in the cold, dry air.

'What should I do with him, my Queen?' Kyna asks, pointing at Gryst with her sword. But Tara raises her finger to her lips in gesture to remain quiet. She reaches down and take the Doublet Kyna is still holding and pockets it for safekeeping and then with sword drawn, carefully makes her way towards a path leading out of the glade into deeper woodland. Kyna is about to follow when she hears a noise in the distance and quietly runs up to Tara and pulls he back from the path, _'Someone is coming!' _she whispers,_ 'Quick, in here' _and she pulls her into a dense thicket, letting the shadows of the leaves fall as camouflage over them.

**At SGCUK**

Daniel and Agnes run to the main atrium as more alarms start sounding. _'Now what?'_ Daniel yells at a nearby officer. _'It's a Stargate signature, Sir, something has opened a Stargate in the vicinity.'_

'A Stargate? You mean someone has come through the pool?' Agnes asks.

'No need to worry Mam, We have a secure perimeter..' the officer is interrupted by an impatient Daniel. _'Or someone or something has triggered it from this end, like we did.'_

'Who would want to open it?' Agnes asks.

'Rob Bowden, or whatever had possessed him, I have no doubt whatever that creature he was turning into wasn't from this planet and would want to return home.'

'But he's dead, Bowden is dead!' Agnes follows after Daniel as he runs back to their office and sweeps the coins off his desk into his hands.

'What are you doing with those?'

'I'm counting them... they are all here. OK, so it's not one of these.' Daniel scrabbles around on his desk for the case they were in without any luck, then, catching sight of Agnes's handbag hanging over her chair, grabs it and tips them into it.

_'Hey! That's my bag. Do you mind!'_

'Keep hold of them and don't let them out of your sight!' Daniel thrusts her bag into her hands and then heads for the door. '_Come on, I have a feeling things are about to get very weird around here!_'

**At the pool near Blick Mead**

From their hiding place in the trees, Kyna watches as a young man strides to the pool where the Naxen is still sitting. The young man holds out a small object that catches the light, a piece of metal, Naxen gold maybe. The Naxen seems to cower away from it and starts to grovel at the young man's feet and then the sound of many people approaching fills the air, a rustling of leaves, feet on grass, noisier than a horse in gallop and the glade is suddenly filled with guards all pointing what look like metal harpoons at the young man and the Naxen. Kyna can sense Tara about to move at her side, perhaps to intervene, perhaps to fight and Kyna lays a hand on her arm and shakes her head. They are safe as long as they remain in the cover of the trees.

Teal'c and Jack O'Neill walk past the team of SGC guards and carefully approach Rob Bowden and the strange creature at his feet.

'Robert, Robert Bowden, can you hear me.' Teal'c asks, moving ever closer to him as Rob Bowden slowly turns away from the creature towards them. For a corpse he seems to be very much alive.

'Well, this explains how you left the SGC.' Jack points to the uniform Rob is wearing. 'You do know you were declared dead back there. We saw you die.'

Rob carefully surveys the armed guards for a moment or two and then raises his hand, holding up the Dragon ring into evening light. The gold glints and the dragon seems to dance in the air above him.

'Do you think he understands what we are saying?' Jack asks Teal'c asks in a low voice.

'I think either the ring has control of him or he has control of the ring, either way, the person he once was is long gone, look at his eyes. I suggest we move back behind the guards.'

Jack looks at Rob Bowden's eyes and recoils slightly as he stares into what seem to be the swamp-green eyes of an alligator. The pupils are narrowed to thin, vertical lines and little sparks of fire burst across the irises that now cover the whole eyeball. Jack is mesmerised by them and it's only the weight of Teal'c's hand on his arm dragging him back behind the guards that breaks the spell.

'Did you see his eyes?' Jack asks, dazed from the effect of them but Teal'c motions for him to be silent and points to the guards, all facing Rob Bowden, all equally mesmerised by his stare.

'I think it is time we leave, quietly..' says Teal'c, stepping backwards as the guards move closer in to Bowden.

'Copy that.' Jack follows his lead and starts to slowly step backwards but manages to step on a twig and the sharp snap it makes as it breaks echoes out across the glade. Before either Jack or Teal'c can react they are grabbed from behind by two strangers and pulled out of sight into a patch of shrubby trees, a hand firmly clamped over each of their mouths.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Celestia, Epona and Avalon**

Daniel and Agnes wait for the lift doors to open, for some reason they seem to be taking an age. As they wait, Agnes guiltily clutching her handbag to her chest, a guard walks past and, seeing them waiting, comments, 'You'll be there for ever, it's on lock down. The away team is exiting via the tunnels.'

'The tunnels?'

'Yes, Sir. The old quarry tunnels. Past the Isolation Unit, turn left, big airlock door marked no entry. Can't miss it. If you're quick, you'll might catch up with Commander O'Neill.'

'Oh yes, those tunnels.' Daniel shrugs his shoulders in surprise at Agnes and they turn back in the direction of the Isolation Unit.

Daniel and Agnes find the door to the tunnels open and step through into a cold passageway hewn out of the chalk, lit by a line of lights. Within a minute or two they emerge into a large cavern, once part of an old quarry, from here several tunnels branch out into daylight beyond, each big enough to drive a truck down. Parked in neat rows on the floor of the cavern are a fleet of utility vehicles, Daniel quickly makes his way to one and, finding it unlocked and the key dangling from a chain on the dashboard, indicates to Agnes to join him.

'Shouldn't we ask someone rather than just take it?' she asks as she climbs in.

'No time to lose and, if the site is in lock down mode, the chances of us being let out, especially with the gate tokens is slim.'

'And, where exactly are we going?'

'To the Stargate, where else?' With that, Daniel turns the ignition key and the engine roars into life and he speeds off up the nearest exit tunnel and out into the afternoon sun before anyone can stop them.

The light is beginning to fade as afternoon turns to evening in the pool glade. From their hiding place, Tara and Kyna, with Jack and Teal'c held captive at sword point, watch as Rob Bowden places the Dragon Ring on his finger and commands the Naxen and the team of SGC guards to search for something.

'What are they after?' Kyna whispers to Tara.

'You, probably.' Jack answers before Tara can.

'No, not us yet. He is not strong enough. He is in moult still.' Tara watches Bowden and shakes her head. 'They are looking for the Doublet that Naxen had. Without it, they cannot return to Epona.'

'In moult?' Teal'c asks. 'What do you mean?'

'Once the soul of the Dragon King has chosen a living vessel to inhabit, it kills off its host and takes over its body, changing it and... moulding it into fearsome form. This is the moult, when it sheds the old shape and reappears in its true form.'

'I'm guessing from the weirdy alligator eyes, its true form isn't human.' Jack surmises.

'Nixor? No, he is not human. I imprisoned here on Celestia many millennia ago. Someone has broken the seal of Epona on his tomb and freed him. Now he will take revenge...' Tara stops short as the Naxen seems to turn towards them and stare directly at them, as though sensing where they are hiding.

_'OK, my spidey sense is telling me things are about to turn bad, so I guess it would help if we decide we are all on the same side against alligator man, the man from Atlantis and our own team of guards and maybe you stop trying to shave me with that sword and we get the hell out of here!' _Jack gently pushes the sword edge away from his neck and turns to face Tara. He stares in shock at the beautiful, Amazonian woman standing in front of him. 'Wow! We've been kidnapped by Wonder Woman!'

'No time for that now, Jack.' Teal'c grabs Kyna and Jack and thrusts them back into the trees, _'Run!' _he turns to face the Naxen as it approaches their hiding place, drawing his staff weapon in front of him, getting to ready to fire. Tara steps up beside him, her sword drawn, she turns to Kyna and says. 'Take this Celestian to safety, Kyna.'

'But my Queen, I an sworn to defend you!'

_'You are sworn to obey me, Kyna, this is no fight for a horse herder, I command you to run!'_

Kyna grabs Jack's arm before he can protest and drags him back through the trees as the Naxen and the team of guards start to close in on Tara and Teal'c.

A thought occurs to Jack, '_Here follow me, I have a vehicle we can use!' _He runs off to where the Jeeps the team arrived in are parked and Kyna follows him, wondering what manner of chariot these strange Celestians would have. As they run, Jack can hear another vehicle rapidly approaching and he and Kyna leap out of the way as an SGC Jeep screeches to halt in front of them. Recognising Daniel and Agnes he leaps up onto the running board and indicates for Kyna to do the same, opening the door and shoving Daniel over, shouting, 'I'm driving!'

Kyna instinctively leaps onto the the open back of the jeep, landing with catlike agility and, holding onto the roll bar, draws her sword as the horseless chariot roars into life and charges back towards the Stargate.

Gryst stares at Tara and Teal'c. They are much taller than him, stronger than him and have better weapons than him but none of that matters now. Now he has found Nixor, the Dragon King. Only that matters. Nothing must stand in Nixor's way. He lowers his head and clears his gullet and then lunges forward at them as Teal'c fires the staff weapon at the ground in front of him. The blast kicks up a fierce heat and throws dust high into the air, leaving a crater in the ground. Gryst is thrown back off his feet by the blast and sent sprawling and crawling away in fear into the water, whimpering at the feet of Nixor who is still standing in the pool.

Nixor waves a hand and the SGC guards start to move forward, trying to encircle Tara as she expertly keeps them at bay with her sword. Teal'c fires another warning shot at the guards but before they can get any closer, a Jeep careens through the trees, scattering them and forcing Nixor and Gryst to turn and run for cover as it slides to a stop, water up to its wheel arches in the pool.

_'After them!'_ Without pausing for breath from the fight, Tara calls for Kyna to join her and chases after Nixor and Gryst, crashing through the undergrowth in their haste to catch them. Jack and Teal'c give chase, leaving Daniel and Agnes to climb carefully out of the Jeep and watch as a team of dazed and confused SGC guards stagger to their feet, unaware of what just happened.

Tara and Kyna run fast but it is too late, the trail ends at a riverbank and there is no sign of Nixor or Gryst on the other side. Tara leans out over the river but the water is deep and shadowy, perfect for a Naxen to disappear in. She sighs and shakes her head at Kyna, they are too late, they have lost them. Teal'c and Jack arrive at the riverbank to find Tara and Kyna waiting for them. Jack stops and doubles over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath as Tara points to the fast flowing river. 'They will be leagues away by now, the Naxen are a water-born race and the rivers will keep them safe, we have lost the trail.' She turns to Kyna. 'We will need help to recapture Nixor and stop him returning through the Gate of the Twins to Epona. I must travel to the planet Avalon.'

Jack looks up and replies. 'Oh no, the only place you two are travelling to is with us, back to SGC...Teal'c, if you'd be so kind to point the way.'

Teal'c points his staff weapon at Tara and Kyna as Jack disarms them and then the four of them turn back from the river to walk to the Stargate pool.

Under the river bank, deep below the surface of the water, Gryst waits, listening to their plans through a hollow reed plucked from the riverbed, beside him, in an unconscious slumber is the slowly evolving form of Nixor, Dragon King of the Naxen, the moult fully upon him.

'What was that?' Agnes jumps slightly as the Jeep slides further into the pool on its own accord.

'What was what?' Daniel asks over his shoulder, wading out to check on the guards who seem to be recovering from a form of temporary amnesia.

'That!' Agnes hugs her handbag full of the hoard coins closer to her as the Jeep moves again, this time beginning to slide and turn as the water starts to spiral up. Daniel glances round and catches sight of the vortex beginning to form. '_Quick Agnes, it's the coins in your bag!'_ He yells, as he crashes through the wall of water towards her, realising immediately the danger she is in if all four versions of the coins open a Stargate to different world at once _'Throw it out of the pool now!'_. Agnes lobs her bag as high and far as she can through the water as the truck starts to lift up out of the pool and into the swirling wall of water, knocking the bag as it passes by causing a coin to shake free from the bag and fall back towards her. Instinctively she catches it as Daniel reaches her and grabs her, shouting '_No!' _but it is too late and they are both lost in the void travelling to a distant planet.

Jack and Teal'c arrive back at the pool with their captives to find the Jeep upside down in the shallows of the pond and no sign of Agnes or Daniel. Jack tries to question the guards but they are too disorientated by what happened to get much sense. Teal'c and Kyna start to search the glade for any tracks leading away as Tara watches Jack, bemused by his efforts to get the Guards to remember anything. 'They will not know what happened. The Dragon ring is an enchantment ring. Those it holds in its thrall lose the power of free will and thought. They will have been consumed by Nixor's anger, it will take a few hours for the effect to wear off. They are lucky he was not fully formed. Their minds will return but I doubt they will remember anything of any use to you... Jack.' She comments, remembering the name the one called Teal'c used.

'What's this?' Kyna stumbles slightly, finding a sodden bag lying in the long grass at the edge of a glade. She holds it up and the bag jingles softly as the coins shift their weight.

'That is a handbag, Agnes's I bet!' Jack strides over and takes the bag from Kyna, emptying the contents out onto a nearby flat rock, carved with a figure and a couple of horses.

Among the wallet, comb, make-up items and phone are the hoard coins. Jack quickly counts off eleven of them. 'One missing. I guess that explains where they are.'

Tara sighs and shakes her head. 'Doublets! How did this woman have so many?'

'It's a long story and it will have to wait. Right now, we need to work out exactly where they have gone.'

Tara reaches over his arm and starts sorting the coins, 'These three are for our planet Epona,' She points to the nearby stone. Jack notices it is the same symbol on her armour breastplate. 'These three are for your planet, Celestia.'

'Celestia?' Teal'c asks in surprise. ' I thought this planet is called Earth?'

'These three are for... _Maere._' Tara drops her voice and whispers the name. 'Planet of the Morrigna, the nightmaere realms...'

Jack interrupts her. 'There's only two of these... these ones, where are they for?' He holds up the two coins to the fading light as though trying to discern something of their nature in the strange hieroglyphs.

'Those are for Avalon, planet of the Magus, this is where your friends have travelled to. Where I must travel to before Nixor reveals his true self and raises an army...' Tara makes a deft move to try and grab the coins from Jacks hand but he pre-empts her move and drops them into his top pocket, along with the rest of the coins.

'Not so quick Princess... come on Teal'c lets get these two and the guards back to SGC. We need to debrief and then prep a team for off world. I guess now we know which planet we'll be visiting first, Avalon it is.'


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Avalon**

Daniel loosens his arms around Agnes as the vortex drops and they stare uncertainly out from the centre of a mirror flat pool. A cold mist sits in the air and Agnes shivers after his warm embrace. 'When you said things were about to get weird, you weren't kidding.' Agnes stares out into the swirling veil of shifting greys, unable to discern anything about their location. 'Where are we? Is this still Earth?'

'Probably not.' Daniel notices the smooth stone sill of the pool and he helps Agnes step out and down onto a small flight of stone steps. Momentarily the mist clears and both Agnes and Daniel gasp in surprise at the view unfolding in the brief window of time.

Beyond the dais the pool is built on, spreads a seemingly endless silver ocean, waves lapping in all directions towards the horizon where a night sky meets the sea. High above them where the sky deepens to a midnight blue, a roiling ribbon of green, amber and gold ripples across the sky. Then the mist returns, thicker than before and they see nothing more.

'Wow,! What an aurora!' Agnes sighs as the mist deepens around them.

Daniel crouches at the edge of the dais and drops a hand into the silver water and then laughs, relieved. 'It's not water, it's a sand of some sort.' He is about to lower himself into it when Agnes shouts, 'Wait! You don't know how deep it is, it could be sinking sand!'

'Sinking sand?' Daniel can feel a current pulling at his fingers as the silvery grains slip through his fingers. He leans over further and delves deeper but all he can feel is the sand running past his skin, cold and clean like a fast running river. 'I don't think I'd sink, I think I could swim in it.'

'To where though? We should wait, someone will work out eventually where we have gone and come and rescue us.' Agnes thinks of her handbag of coins and the jeep at the pool on Earth. 'I think we should just wait here, perhaps the mist will clear.'

**In the Tower of the Magus**

Aelixor leans on his elbows and watches as the night flies swarm on the crumbs of honey cake scattered on the windowsill. The sky beyond is filled with stars and firestorms... what did the Magus call it, _Astraeus Anemoi Aurora_, the star wind of dawn.

The night flies are filled with star wind too, or glow with similar colours, the Magus probably had a long name for that too but Aelixor struggled to grasp the ancient Magik words. He sighs and, bored of the flies, sweeps the crumbs off into the night where they spiral out from the tower wall, scattering the flies like sparks from a burning log. Tomorrow is Aelixor's twenty-first birthday, his ninth in the apprenticeship of Ninian the Magus and his ninth since he has seen his family. It will be his choice day. Whether to continue for another nine years of apprenticeship or return to his home, to the Isles of Avalon, far from the tower.

_'Aelixor? Aelix? Where are you?' _The querulous tones of Ninian's voice float up through the rafter floor and Aelix closes the wooden window shutters and shouts down the stone stairwell. 'I'm up here! In the roof.'

_'Well what are you doing up there? Nothing but flies and stars in that head of yours! I need you here, at my side. It's the sands of time, someone has delved into the sands of time! Hurry!'_

Aelix takes the stone steps two at a time, jumping the last four to land nimbly at the feet of Ninian in the tower's main salon, the library. Ninian tuts at him, annoyed by his athleticism. Would the lad never learn to control his impulsiveness? 'The Magi do not waste energy on running.'

'I'm not a member of the Magi yet.'

'That is _very _true.' Ninian sighs and struggles to pull the hood of his blue cloak up over his head while holding onto his walking stick.

'Here, let me help you.' Aelix adjusts the old man's cloak for him, asking, 'So what's this about the sands of time?'

'They have been disturbed, did you not feel it?'

Aelix shrugs and shakes his head and Ninian sighs, if the lad cannot even tune his mind to the frequency of the sands surrounding the tower after nine years... 'Never mind, someone is at the gate. We must see who it is, immediately!'

Aelix shrugs on his own novice's cloak of grey wool and pulls the hood up over his head and tucks a small silver sickle into the belt. Then he helps Ninian to the landing stage jutting out from the library's portico where the coracle is moored. Once Ninian is seated inside, Aelix casts off from the landing stage and, dipping the rudder into the fast flowing sands of time, steers a course for the gate dais, hidden in the mists of Avalon, a league across the silver ocean.

**On Earth**

Nixor is dreaming as he sleeps, with Gryst keeping guard at his side, deep in the reed beds of the fast flowing river. His soul is slowly devouring Robert Bowden, mind and body, eating out everything that one was human and moulding it to his own design. As this metamorphosis takes place, Nixor reaches out in his dreams to the far corners of the islands, calling up the forgotten hordes long relegated to a half world of myth and fantasy, buried in the landscape but not forgotten. Tor trolls and bog hobgoblins, hill giants, moor beast and wood werwulf, calling them all to arms.

Under armed guard, Kyna stares in amazement at the interior atrium of SGC as Tara paces impatiently up and down, waiting for these modern Celestians to get ready. What could possibly take so long? Every minute wasted is a minute Nixor grew stronger. Defeating him the first time round was hard enough.

Jack and Teal'c brief Professor Peter Cromwell on the afternoon's events knowing if it wasn't for the two Eponians standing under guard in the atrium outside the professor's glass-fronted office, their story would be unbelievable. The professor shakes his head and tuts at each new twist.

'So you are telling me that in my absence of.. not more than four hours, Rob Bowden turns out not be dead and escapes what is meant to be a high security facility, with an artefact. That you manage to lose two team members through an unauthorised gate event and be taken prisoner by two and I have counted them, there are only two women, armed with swords, claimingthe world is about to end at the hands of a_ dragon king?'_

'Um... yes.' Jack winces at the way the professor has catalogued the afternoon as a disaster. 'And they seem to be quite insistent about it... so we need to prep asap to go offworld to retrieve Daniel and Agnes from Avalon.'

'Avalon?'

'Avalon. One of the four planets, well, that's what they call it anyway. They want to go there too.'

The professor sucks air in through gritted teeth, trying to work out if it is all some elaborate hoax concocted to give him indigestion after a particularly nice luncheon with the Minister or if, in fact, a massive, intergalactic nightmare is about to unfold across the Wiltshire countryside. He gets up from his desk and wanders to the window, staring intently at the two women outside. The younger of the two is looking as though she has just dropped down a rabbit hole into wonderland. The older one... he stops staring as she instinctively swivels on her heels and stares at him, her eyes full of anger at his impertinent gaze. 'A Queen you say... from a planet called Epona?' Peter Cromwell doesn't wait for an answer, 'Go, take an away team, retrieve Daniel and Agnes, I presume the mile perimeter is still in force? Take these two women with you as well and bring them _all_ back, the sooner we get this under control the better. Do you understand?'

An hour later the away team stands at the edge of the pool near Blick Mead. The woodland glade is quiet and the dappled evening light casts long shadows across the still surface of the water. Commander Jack O'Neill takes the coin for Avalon from his pocket and holds it up as one by one the team, interspersed with Tara, Kyna and Teal'c step into the pool, forming a circle by interlinking arms.

'And this will work?' Jack asks Tara who stands at his shoulder.

'As long as no one lets go. Yes, Jack, _we will travel to Avalon!'_ she shouts in reply but her words are lost as the water vortex starts to form around them and they are transported to another world.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**On Avalon**

It is hard to tell whether minutes or hours have past as Daniel checks his watch for the umpteenth time, the hands still stuck on the exact moment they used the gate. Something, whether it is the mist, the sands or the planet itself is stopping his watch from working. Behind them, a vortex spirals up suddenly in the gate pool on the dias, making Daniel and Agnes jump as they crouch near the edge. '_I told you we'd be rescued!' _Agnes shouts over the noise.

_'Depends where the gate is being used from, there's no guarantee it's from Earth.' _Daniel replies, immediately crushing Agnes's relief at the thought of returning home. _'Get ready to jump into the sand, just in case our visitors are not friendly...'_

The vortex drops and the pool returns to flat calm as Jack ,Tara, Kyna, Teal'c and the away team step down onto the dais. Agnes lets out a sigh of relief. 'Ah, it's good to see you all! We seem to be marooned on a desert island.'

'This is no desert, these are the Sands of Time surrounding the Tower of the Magi. Do not touch the sands, they are the currents of magik.' Tara runs to the edge of the dais and peers out into the mist, warning the rest of the team to stand back from the edge. Daniel guiltily starts at the thought he put his hand into the sea and starts to speculate what the effects might be. Perhaps it explains his watch stopping.

Jack sets the way team to secure the dais perimeter and is about to organise a return through the gate when the mist clears and the most extraordinary view greets his eyes. An endless silver ocean stretches out to the night horizon where an aurora dances across the sky and, nearing the dais, travelling at speed in a small coracle, appears to be an old man robed in a blue and a young man, dressed like a medieval monk in grey, steering the craft straight at them.

As the coracle reaches the dais the young man nimbly leaps out and threads a rope through a metal hoop sunk into the edge of the dais. The coracle rocks as he leaps and the old man, already on his feet, is tipped straight into the sands of time. 'Magus!' Aelix shouts as the old man sinks to knee height into the sands. 'Aelix, you fool! How many times must I tell you, do not run!' As he walks towards the dais through the fast flowing sands they all stare as he changes, the years rolling away from an old man leaning on a stick to a young man of fierce beauty. His long, silvery locks turning to jet and his rheumy eyes clearing to fiery amber. By the time Aelix reaches down to help the Magus step up onto the dais, Ninian is barely as old as Aelix himself.

As soon as the sands shake free from the edge of his blue cloak, the magik is broken and Ninian is as ancient as before, back slightly bowed, hands gnarled. Agnes wonders if she actually saw what just happened and Daniel takes a deep breath, worrying about his hand.

'Tara? My Queen!' Ninian bows as best he can. 'I was not expecting you to return so soon to visit me.'

Tara smiles at Ninian's slim grip on the passage of time. 'It has been many centuries Ninian, far too long since I have seen you, my friend. But I come with bad news and we have no time to waste. The dragon King has been woken from his sleep.'

_'Awoken? Who dares to break the seal of Epona?' _Ninian cries, aghast at Tara's news. 'That seal was set for ten thousand years.' Ninian's mind whirls ahead with the implications of Tara's news. If Nixor finds a way to raise an army... 'The hours are against us, Tara, the equinox! Come, we must return to the Tower, there is no time to lose..'

Jack is about to protest, they have orders to return immediately to earth, when he notices the rest of the team, staring incredulously over his shoulder. He turns to see what they are staring at to find where, only a moment ago, an ocean of sand stretched out, now there is a tower rushing towards them. Or maybe they are moving to the tower. It is all too weird.

Ten minutes later with the away team standing guard at the gate, Agnes, Daniel, Jack ,Tara, Kyna and Teal'c sit around a table made of a single slice through the trunk of what must have been a giant oak. Teal'c runs a hand over it, feeling the way years of use must have worn it marble smooth. Nearby, at a vast bookcase stretching up and curving round the interior wall of the tower, Ninian and Aelix searching for a book the Magi needs. Daniel stares at the wall of books, some volumes are nearly a foot thick and all look older than the tower itself, on higher shelves stone tablets, scrolls and slim glass cylinders jostle for space and, with a conspiratorial nod at Agnes, gets to his feet and casually asks, 'What's the name? I'll help you look.' And with that he runs a finger along the spines of the books nearest, trying to read the titles. 'Hey, some of these are in ancient Greek... _Margites!.._'

'Yes, yes, collecting and transcribing books on my travels has long been a passion of mine.. we are looking for the Chroniculum Vitae... a modest volume... I'm sure it is here... somewhere.' Ninian smiles absent mindedly, finding a favourite volume and pausing to gently brush the dust from its cover.

'Chroniculum Vitae?' Agnes asks, joining Daniel as he searches the shelves.

'Yes, yes, the timetables of existence... an excellent guide to all the existential probabilities of our galaxy and within it is the account of the Oracle of Uto...'

_'Uto?.. you mean Wadjet?... The Eye of Horus?' _Daniel can feel a tingle of fear creep up his spine as a web of connections leading to Ra start to form in his mind.

'Her oracle was very accurate and left a very detailed account of a particular incident we hoped not to pinpoint in our collective histories...' Ninian is interrupted by Aelix as he holds up a small, tatty portfolio, bound with a leather strap and stuffed full of bits of parchment and shouts, 'Found it!'

Ninian unties the folio and spreads the content across the desk in a well remembered routine. He finds the papyrus he is looking for without hesitation and proceeds to read from it.

''As day equals night, as nature reverses and the moon swallows the sun, the gatekeepers of Duat will unlock the doors of all the kingdoms to the cataclysm of the serpent...' The destruction of our planets at the hand of a serpent using the gatekeepers of the underworld during an equinoctial eclipse, this is a prophesy set out thousands of years ago. The 'serpent' in your old English is the 'worm' or another for the 'dragon'. When we finally defeated and entombed Nixor on your planet it was meant to be for a period of time in which these equinox eclipses would pass unchallenged through our planets but the news you bring... the seal of Epona broken..' Ninan looks up from the parchment at the group around the table. 'The equinox will soon be upon us, Nixor will be raising an army, if he manages to enslave the Morrigna on Maere during the eclipse all will fall and the four planets will be lost. We must find Nixor before it's too late!'

**Back On Earth**

Professor Peter Cromwell stares out across the atrium from his office at the assembled group of gate travellers. His once smooth running ops floor is beginning to resemble some kind of science fiction cosplay convention. Two Eponian warrior women, one old magician and apprentice from Avalon, Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, Commander Jack O'Neill and Agnes Dale. Not forgetting somewhere out in the countryside, Robert Bowden aka the dragon king and a Naxen lizard man running around. The thought of the two on the loose focuses his mind to the immediate task in hand. Find and apprehend them before news of gates, aliens and Stargate Command found its way into the media. Bad enough trying to explain this lot in the atrium to the Minister, let alone the media frenzy it would cause if a member of the public stumbled across Rob Bowden and his companion. The professor straightens his jacket and squares his shoulders and heads for the atrium, it is time to restore some order to the whole proceedings.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

**March 2015**

**Onboard the Portable Field Station, somewhere in Dorset.**

_'Dorset has woken up today to find one of their most famous landmarks has vanished. The Giant at Cerne Abbas, a popular tourist attraction outlined in chalk on the hills behind the village where I am reporting from today has seemingly been removed from the ground without trace, leaving no sign it was ever there. Locals and police are mystified by its disappearance but suspect it is part of an elaborate hoax being played out in the days leading up to the equinoctial eclipse due on the 20__th__.__ This follows on from the disappearance of many old landmarks and chalk figures around the country in the last few weeks. As yet, no group or individual has laid claim to these bizarre events. _

_In other news, after weeks of rain, the water table is now at unprecedented levels and predictions of long-term flooding across the south of England for the rest of the spring now seem likely. All motorists are urged to check their routes before travelling and all trains to the South West continue to be cancelled. This is Sara Gallbright reporting for 'Morning Southern News' from the heart of Dorset...'_

The monitor screen scrolls to another news channel as Daniel Jackson clicks through the remote buttons. All channels are leading with the same story. Another one and always one step ahead of them. Since their return from Avalon, no one had caught sight of Rob Bowden or the Naxen despite daily searches, combing the countryside. And now another disappearance. He mutes the sound and turns back to the small conference table in the back of the portable field station to address those seated around it. On the table is an interactive hologram map of the south of England, pinpointing all the historic sites that have recently disappeared and mapping the rising flood waters across the region. He points to where the Cerne Abbas Giant should be. 'I think you should start your search here today. We are as close as we can get by road, you'll have to go on foot from here.' He points to a spine of high ground leading from their location to the hills above Cerne Abbas.

Around the table, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c, Tara and Kyna nod in agreement. Daniel continues, 'We'll coordinate from this end, see if we can pick up on any weird sightings or media activity that might give us any kind of lead as to where Rob Bowden might be hiding out...'

From further up the vehicle, Ninian interrupts him. 'He is calling them, calling the ancients, awakening them, they are vanished in his thrall and he is slowly drowning this world, turning it to swampland to suit an army of Naxen. You will not be able to fight him or his hordes if this continues much longer. I can help you scout this land much quicker, if only you let me.'

'It's no job for an old man, Ninian, we need to be swift and travel light, cover large areas to try and find him. Plus we have our orders to keep a low profile on you all...' but Jack is cut short by Ninian's laughter at his words, laughter that changes to a high pitched shriek and suddenly, where only a moment ago there was an old man, now there is nothing. Jack blinks in surprise, looking round for the Magus. But he is gone, only Aelix remains nearby and on his arm is a hunting bird, small, grey and sleek with bright amber eyes. The bird stares at Jack and says, 'What, Jack, have you never seen a merlin before? _Now_ will you let me hunt with your team?'

_'Ninian?_ Jask asks.

'Yes, when do we start?' The bird shakes it's feathers and settles more comfortably on Aelix's arm, 'We are wasting valuable time.'

The merlin swoops low across the watery fields, eyes searching for any signs of life under the surface but the meadows are empty under the weight of water, only rotting crops and lost farm machinery below. Every now and then the bird returns to rest on Aelix's arm, reporting back his findings to Jack and then swooping off again in a different direction. The Magus is right, they are covering more ground with his help. Jack calls back to the field station, so far no luck and they are almost at the village of Cerne Abbas.

Agnes sits and watches the hologram map as the waters rise millimetre by millimetre across the landscape. She rests her elbows on the conference table and cups her head in her hands, when something occurs to her.

'Daniel! What if this water is not just to deter his enemy, what if it is _defensive_, protecting him. Look, like an upside down watery fort, all the low lying land is in this area, he's flooding the Somerset Levels like a big basin... leaving rivers flowing out that can be used, highways for an army. All the sites that have been disappearing are in a ring around this basin, all on high ground, like... like sentry points on an outer wall.'

'The water is bounded by hills pretty much all the way round, nice idea Agnes. We should get the team to look across the Levels.'

'No... not the Levels...' Another thought occurs to Agnes, a lair. 'A cave, a cave system that's been around since prehistoric times. I don't know why I haven't thought of it before, Cheddar Gorge, the caves there have been inhabited since prehistoric times.'

'Cheddar, like the cheese?' Daniel asks.

'Yes, like the cheese... here, I'll call it up on the map. There a deep ravine with a network of caves running back through the hills. Water in front, cliffs behind. Ancient sentries at the perimeters. The perfect lair for a dragon!'

Daniel studies the map and nods, Agnes' logic makes perfect tactical sense. 'We need to relocate to the Mendip Hills, I'll call the team back.'

A couple of hours later the Field Station lorry is parked up in a rocky cleft near Burrington Camp hillfort. It is as close to the Gorge at Cheddar as they dare to go. This time there is no objection to Ninian, disguised as a merlin, making a reconnaissance flight over the gorge itself.

Water fills the narrow, rocky cleft, drowning the entrance to the caves and lapping at the sheer rocks, looking more like a an inlet on the coast than a landlocked gorge. The place is silent, deserted, not a bird or a beast in sight. Ninian's eyes sweep the walls of the gorge, looking for clues, and then he spots it. A corpse of a small pony, impaled on a hunting harpoon, flesh half eaten, body wedged under a rock, close the waterline. Just as a Naxen would kill and eat it. They had found them at last.

Gryst wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, his belly full and distended after his meal. The hunt had awakened him to the possibilities of this planet. His new master had made the water spill up across the land so a Naxen army could sweep in through the Stargate and claim these rich and fertile marshlands. Nixor the Dragon King had called up an army of long forgotten creatures, long banished to the ground and bound by rock and river and tree. These creatures would hold the gate for Nixor, allow him to travel to the fourth world. Gryst shudders slightly a the thought of Morrigna, the nightmaere realms where the Maere swarmed in uneasy rest. Nixor could have his army of the nightmaere wraiths, Gryst would be happy with this cave and a supply of livestock. His thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Nixor, the last vestiges of the human form of Rob Bowden barely visible, moving his fearsome bulk effortlessly over the slippery rock surfaces to the pool to where Gryst is lying. Nixor's skin shimmers with scales that clatter and shiver as the muscles move underneath, their pearly translucence beguilingly reflecting the waters of the cave pools, his talons clawing at the rock walls. Nixor's eye burn with a terror Gryst can barely look at and he averts his gaze at his monstrous master and belches softly to relieve his fear.

'Gryst, it is time for me to return to the gate. The humans are near. You must draw them away from me, your life for the life of your King. ' Part of Gryst wants to resist the inexorable thoughts Nixor is filling his mind with. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to fight, he wanted to sleep off his meal in this cave with nothing but the slow drip of water through rock as company. But the will of his master is much stronger than Gryst and all he can do is nod and obey. 'My life for the Dragon King!'

'How about we blow up the cliffs and block the mouth of the cave, then Ninian can do his spell thing and seal him in and..'

'That's no good, Jack, too near the town below, to blast that amount of rock you'd create a tsunami wiping out the houses...' Daniel pauses, looking at the holographic map of the cave system displayed in the Portable Field Station.

'Well, for you information, Daniel, they seem pretty flooded already.' Jack replies testily.

'Flooded but not destroyed... and how do we explain the sudden destruction of a perfectly stable rock system? There must be another way to get into the caves...'

They are both interrupted by the return of the merlin flying in through the open window with a screech, settling onto the ground and morphing back into Ninian. _'The Naxen is on the move, you must hurry! We must follow him!'_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

**On board the Portable Field Station, Somerset**

Ninian wakes with a start, something had caught his mind's eye, a rustling in the corner like the scurrying of a rat. Not a rat, a bird! The thought pushes all the sleep from his mind and he calls out for Aelix to help him. 'Quick! Quick, before it is too late!' Aelix rushes to his side and helps the Magus from the small bunk room he was resting in through to the main hub of the field station.

Agnes looks up in surprise as the pair arrive. 'Ninian! But you were just here, the rest of the team have followed you after the Naxen...'

'_Not me! Some manifestation of Nixor's! We must call them back before it is too late! I will fly after them..'_

_'_No! Wait Ninian, I can contact them by radio, I don't want to lose you two as well...' Agnes tries the communications radio but all she gets is static.

Teal'c, Tara and Kyna have no problem following the trail left by Gryst. It is almost too easy, leading them on a northerly course away from the cave and the gorge, up over the hills. Jack and Daniel follow behind trying to work out where the Naxen creature is going.

'It's the wrong direction for the gate, we're heading north...ish.' Jack stares at his compass for a second or two, trying to get the needle to stop violently spinning.

'Come on, we are going to lose them if we don't speed up.' Daniel glances nervously a the sky as the clouds seem to press down on them. They jog after the other three as rain starts to fall and then turns to a drizzly mist. Soon their visibility is down to a few paces in front.

'I think we've lost them..' Daniel stops jogging and takes a few deep breaths, removing his glasses and wiping the water from the lenses.

'Wait!... There can you hear that?' Jack picks up a shout in the distance. 'Thatta way. Let's go!' He starts off again, picking up speed without waiting for Daniel. Daniel tries to keep up but soon is left behind, the mist now blanketing all sound, the rain obscuring the landscape. Out of breath, Daniel sinks to his knees and tries his radio but all gets is static as the mist closes in on him, crushing the breath from his lungs.

Jack carries on in the direction of the call but soon finds himself wading into a bog, his boots caught in the cloying mud, the sharp reed grass offering no hand holds. The more he wades the deeper he gets and so he stops struggling and reaches for his radio, the static crackling loudly in the damp air.

Teal'c, Tara and Kyna run at a fast pace, hoping to outpace the Naxen and run him down. The ground slowly rises in front of them, climbing up to the brow of a hill. Behind them the mist rolls closer, sucking at their heels. Up in front Tara catches a glimpse of the Naxen on the brow of the hill and she sprints faster, leaping the last few feet in an effort to reach him. The ground falls away below her and in an instant she can see how they have been tricked into running a full circle over the hills back to the cliff of the gorge. There is a scream and blur of greyish scales as Gryst is swallowed by the flood water below and then she is falling out over the cliff.

Kyna screams _'No!'_ as Tara drops from view and, before Teal'c can react and as they skid to a stop at the cliff edge, she runs up over him in two bounds, diving out to grab Tara's outstretched hand. Instinctively Teal'c grabs Kyna's ankle as she hurtles over him, anchoring himself to the ground with his staff, his feet sliding on the wet ground as Kyna's fingers grasp Tara's wrist and they fall back to the cliff face, scraping painfully to a stop as Teal'c holds fast.

Agnes, Ninian and Aelix listen to the radio static with increasing alarm as no one responds to their messages. Aelix asks, 'Can we find them by where the noise is coming from?'

'That is brilliant Aelix!' Agnes jumps up and runs to the holographic map computers and opens up a new overlay with acoustic mapping. Within a couple of seconds two distinct locations appear on the map. Agnes wastes no time, uploading the coordinates into the sat nav of the field ops lorry and sprinting through to the cab. 'Better strap yourself into the seats back there!' She yells back at Ninian and Aelix. She stares at the controls for a moment or two, trying to familiarise herself with the dashboard, then starts up the engine and slams it into gear, putting her foot on the accelerator and sending the vehicle bucking and coughing across the rocky terrain, she slews the wheel and sets a course straight for the nearest hedge in a direct line towards the points on the sat nav. The truck bulldozers its way through the hedge and across the fields picking up speed as Agnes wrestles with the gears and Ninian and Aelix try and stay in their seats as the vehicle jumps and jolts. By the time they reach the first point on the map, the mist is clearing, revealing Daniel lying lifeless on the ground. Agnes, leaving the engine running, leaps out of the cab to his side, checking for a pulse and softly calling his name. Daniel is barely breathing, his pulse a whisper, his breath rattling as Agnes tries to wake him.

'It is an ill-wind, Agnes. He will recover as soon as the foul breath of Nixor lifts.' Ninian lays a hand gently on Daniel's shoulder. 'Sweet dreams.' The rattling in Daniel's chest eases and he seems to breath more evenly, the pallor on his skin returning. 'I suggest you and Aelix carry him into your mechanised vehicle and we find the next radio signal as quickly as we can.'

By the time they reach Jack, the mist has risen to reveal him stuck in a bog, the mud has risen to his chest. Ages backs up the lorry as close as she can without losing traction on the soggy ground and then she and Aelix search for a rope or chain they can use, finding a coiled length of climbing rope and attaching it firmly to the truck. 'Commander Jack, here, catch this and slip it under your arms!' Aelix expertly lassos Jack and he wearily pulls it over his head and arms. The mud seems to sense he is being rescued and Jack can feel his body being pulled further down, the mud creeping up over his chest towards his chin, beginning to solidify. _'You'd better hurry, this stuff isn't hanging around, it's setting like cement!' _

Kyna feels as though her arm is about to be wrenched from it's socket but she refuses to let go, despite Tara commanding her to do it. _'This is madness Kyna, let me go, I command it as your Queen, Save yourself and Teal'c, I will take my chances on the rocks and water below.'_

_'No, my Queen! I am now a Valkyr guard, sworn to protect you, I will not let go!'_

'If you two do not stop arguing, _I will _let go!' The stern voice of Teal'c filters down from the cliffs above. 'It is not helpful to consider how we may die, we must consider how we may save ourselves. Can you find a foothold on the cliff, Tara, Queen of Epona.'

Tara tries to reach out with her foot across the smooth surface of the rock, finding little to help her. As Tara moves she swings slightly and, despite her efforts, Kyna cries out in pain and Teal'c can feel his feet slip a little nearer to the crumbling cliff edge. He glances round but there is nothing to help, no tree, shrub or rock nearby. His feet slip again, despite bracing with all his strength against his staff, time is fast running out.

Back in the field ops lorry the rest of the team try the radio again but there is no static and no reply. They have no idea where Teal'c, Kyna and Tara are. 'Let me fly out and find them, the dragon's breath has lifted, I will be able to find them from the air.' Ninian is about to transform when the holographic map lights up with a huge acoustic reading a mile or so from where they are. 'That is not good!' Jack heads immediately for the cab, yelling over his shoulder,_'Ma'Tok staff blast!'_

At the moment the cliff edge crumbles away to nothing under his feet, Teal'c swings his Ma'Tok staff downwards towards the water below and, as the three of them plummet down the cliff face, he fires, sending an enormous ball of water up towards them, the surface exploding into a fountain of spray and blast shock wave, dissipating their fall just enough to let them dive into the water below without breaking their necks. First Teal'c, then Kyna and finally Tara surface as the flood waters settle back to flat calm after the explosion.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

**At the SGCUK**

Time is running out. The spring equinox is tomorrow and the away team have failed in their efforts to capture the Naxen and the Dragon King, ending up being caught in a cleverly sprung trap, distracting them and keeping them away from the Stargate. At least the Naxen lizard man was confirmed dead by the team. Professor Peter Cromwell paces distractedly up and down the atrium waiting for their return wondering what next could happen. The media and internet are full of equinox stories of flooding, supernatural occurrences and strange disappearances across the South West of the country and the area is crawling with amateur sleuths, UFO spotters and the press. The whole equinox event couldn't be any less low-key if it stuck a neon sign on its head saying 'FREAKY STUFF HAPPENING'. Even Stonehenge was drawing a large crowd ahead of tomorrow... His thoughts are interrupted by the return of the team. He stares at them critically as they assemble in front of him and is about to start the debrief of the last disastrous twenty-four hours when an urgent message from the guards at the Stargate is patched in over the PA system.

_'What the? What is that! No...…argghhh!' _The screaming is drowned out by the sound of rapid gunfire.

Professor Cromwell yells for a visual image on screen of the live feeds from the guards' uniform cams but the only images being sent back are of a swirling mist with unidentifiable shapes moving in it and sudden, erratic bursts of gunfire.

'The Dragon's breath!' exclaims Aelix as the team watch the footage.

_'They are being drawn into firing at each other in the mist.' _Jack notes shaking his head in frustration. _'We should be there to stop them!'_

'Well, what are you waiting for then?' asks Professor Cromwell. The team do not wait to be told twice.

The route to the Stargate through the trees is quiet and the team approach cautiously, noticing the mist up ahead, each of them determined not to fall foul of it again. 'Best we keep in two groups, Teal'c, Kyna, Tara with me. Daniel, you, Agnes, Ninian and Aelix follow behind. Everyone keep their eyes peeled and keep your infrared scanners on and do not fire unless you have visual confirmation of the enemy. We have no idea what is in there.' Jack nods at the mist slowly creeping out to meet them. Daniel thinks back over the last few days and replies. 'Actually, I think we do...'

The mist closes in around them, deadening sound and distorting the trees into twisted shadows. Soon, they are all relying on their scanners to find the way. Here and there they find the slumped forms of injured perimeter guards and then they reach the Stargate pool clearing to find the remaining guards huddled together, back to back, terrified and out of ammunition.

'Jack and Teal'c question them but get very little out of them. They are making no sense at all, talking about giants and fierce beasts. As Daniel radios for a medical team to transport them back to Stargate Command the mist closes back down and the next onslaught begins.

From out of the mist looms the huge shapes of mythical beasts, once chained to the landscape and now under the spell of Nixor. Tor trolls and bog hobgoblins, hill giants, moor beasts and wood werwulf, ferocious in fighting tooth and claw as the team try to hold the Stargate. Wave after wave of snarling wolves, club-wielding giants, hobgoblins and stone-throwing trolls attack them.

Kyna bravely fights alongside Tara, the blade of Raizor, her Xiphos, flashing dimly through the mist, slicing the flesh of the enemy but leaving no mark as the mythical creatures simply melt away only to reappear again in larger numbers. In grim desperation, as they are pushed back towards the Stargate and the thought of an imminent death fills her mind, her thoughts turn to her home world and her twin brother looking after the herd and sadness engulfs her.

'We are going to be trapped against the gate!' Daniel yells at Jack across the melee.

'I know but I've run out of ways to try and kill these creatures, they just keep reappearing!' Jack fires at a troll only to find the blast bounces off into the mist as though hitting a rock. He ducks out of the way as the troll lands a hammer blow with his club on the spot where he had just been standing.

'This is no good, they will pick us off one by one at this rate!' Teal'c blasts the troll with staff but the troll simply turns to rubble and then slowly rebuilds itself again in front of their eyes. 'This is magic we are fighting and this mist is not helping!'

' Aelix! Aelix! Can you remember how to make a water-catcher? Look, a willow tree!' Ninian, transformed into a merlin, calls from the air above the fight, as he fiercely attacks the eyes of a hill giant. Aelix nods grimly and deftly leaps past a wolf and heads for the willow tree Ninian had spotted. He searches for a particular branch, split into a shape of a Y and strips the leaves from it, then races back to where Agnes and Daniel are fighting side by side. 'Cover me!' he yells and Agnes stares in surprise at the branch he is holding. 'Is that for water divining, because I'm guessing it's going to find the big pond behind us.' Aelix ignores her and turns the branch so that the two prongs of the Y shape point out into the mist. From the sky, Ninian replies to Agnes. 'One way to repel water, one way to catch it!'

Aelix holds the wand out in front of him, chanting under his breath a talisman only he knows while Agnes and Daniel work to keep the marauding hobgoblins at bay. Slowly the wand works, drawing the mist to it and, as Aelix chants, the water is caught, first by the branch and then by all the trees nearby, condensing and seeping into the ground to be trapped by their roots. As the mist dissipates, so does the army, vanishing back into the woods or turning to stone where they stand. The team fall to the ground in exhaustion by the Stargate pool as the fighting finally ends. 'What now?' asks Kyna, every sinew aching from the battle. 'Where have they gone.'

Ninian lands nearby and changes back to his human form. 'The mist is the breath of Nixor, he conjured life into them with it, now it is gone, they have returned to the dust and distant memories they are. The water catcher will hold for now but Nixor will be back. The Equinox is his key to unlocking the gate. This is a diversion to weaken us and keep us too busy to prepare for the real battle tomorrow.'

'Real battle? As battles go, that felt pretty real to me.' Jack ruefully rubs the bruise appearing on his arm where he was hit by a troll rock.

'We should call for back up and supplies.' Teal'c glances at the evening sky overhead. 'It will soon be dark and I fear this is going to be a long night.'


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

**Epona, Maere, Avalon, Celestia**

**On the Plains of Epona **

The siege of Hall Mead has raged for many long weeks in the tunnels and aquifers threading through the sprawling maze of courtyards and cobbled streets. Thin spires of smoke rise over the roofs during the day and the walls of the Hall of the Queen echo to the ring of steel blades while the stench of dead Naxen fills the air. At night, sparks rise high into the sky as Naxen raiders set homes ablaze. Few sleep in the city now and where the Silver Ribbon and the Quagmyre rivers merge into one, the water has churned and turned to run the deep rust red of bloodshed, pouring into the ocean as though from an open wound.

Out on the grass plains, Lore urges his brown mare, Castan, into a canter as he carefully sweeps up the flank of the herd, aware the horses can sense what lies before them. Lore leaps nimbly onto the back of his horse and scouts the ground ahead, picking out a path down to the river. The view before him, of the Silver Ribbon rushing its way across the valley floor fills him with a sense of foreboding. Once crossed, they are nearer the city than plains of the Kin and it feels like a point of no return. The river is still shallow enough for the herd to cross easily at this point and, despite the dread he feels, he turns back to the rest of horse herders ranged out around the perimeters and signals to the river. Slowly the herd moves forward towards the fast flowing waters and for a while, Lore can think of nothing but making sure the great horse herd of Epona makes it safely to the other side.

Two nights ago, an exhausted messenger with dire news from the city, reached the valley where Lore's herd was grazing. The battle was almost done, many Horse Chiefs were dead or injured, the Valkyr all but vanquished and the fall of the city imminent. The messenger was spreading the word for the Kin to disperse deep into the forests and hills, as far from the Naxenlands as they could get. To save themselves from the impending disaster about to befall Hall Mead when the shadowing falls and the Gate of the Twins opens for the Dragon King.

To run and hide. The words had stuck in Lore's chest as sharp as a dagger, run and hide leaving the city and his twin, Kyna to fall to the Naxen? Lore had roughly pushed his way through the gathering crowd of herders and, standing on an upturned water bucket, started to speak out against the messenger.

'_No!_ I will not leave our Kin to be slaughtered in the city by the scourge of Naxen nor will I run and hide like a scared child but fight like a Horse Chief, I will not let Hall Mead fall!'

'And how are _you_ going to fight the hordes of Naxen little Lore? I can barely see you over the shoulders of our fellow herders! It is madness to return to the city, we should flee as the messenger is telling us too.' A ripple of nervous laughter spreads through the group at the reply to Lore's outburst.

'My sister is fighting in the city with the Valkyr, I will not leave her to her death!'

'She is probably dead already, Lore. We must protect the herd. We should move the horses north tomorrow.' Another voice calls out.

'And when Hall Mead falls, what then? When the gate opens and the Naxen call upon Nixor, the Dragon King to return. What then? Do you think a forest or a hill is going to save you? The Kin of Epona do not run from battle, do not leave their people to be slaughtered...'

'But we are not trained fighters Lore and we have few weapons, how can we repel an army of Naxen with just our horses?' The question hangs in the air as the herders all digest Lore's words.

'The horses! The horses are our weapon. _We will run the horses.'_ Lore excitedly jumps up, forgetting he is balanced on a bucket and nearly toppling over.

_'Run the horses?'_

'Yes, we will run the horses through the city, they will crush the Naxen for us!'

A murmur of approval runs through the herders and soon there is no more talk of running away, only talk of a great stampede to wipe the Naxen from the face of Epona once and for all.

**In the Nightmaere Realms of Maere**

A hunger crawls through the Morrigna wraiths on Maere. Once in the thrall of Nixor the Dragon King, they became lost, turning to shadows and ghosts, while he passed the centuries imprisoned on Celestia. But now, after long centuries in torment, the two suns are turning away and when the moonshadow falls and the Infernus Gate opens, he will return and they will sate their hunger across the four worlds and once again, the Army of the Dragon King will fly.

Deep in the Nightmaere Realms, in the carved caverns and lava tubes of the old volcanoes ringing the planet, the Morrigna gather, a murmuring flock of half-lights and hunger. The Infernus Gate lies in the largest volcanic crater on Maere, long ago emptied of its magma and filled with ink-blue waters reflecting the glassy volcanic rock and deep sky overhead. As the suns set on the eve of the moonshadow, the wraiths start their journey through the mountains to the gate, to wait for their king.

**The Sands of Time on Avalon **

The equinox alignment of the four worlds is a time for a rebalancing of the celestial mechanisms controlling the flux of time itself. The Sands of Time, the mystical flowing current the Magi have used to prolong their lives in the pursuit of knowledge, is in high flood, whirling at the very edge of the stargate pool, strange ripples and waves running across its surface, searching for the Magus to reset the clock, reclaim the years taken and rebalance the magik of Avalon.

**At the Stargate on Celestia**

Ninian dreams he can feel the flow of the Sands of Time deep in his bones, calling him back. '_Not yet, not yet!_' he cries as his ancient flesh finally dissolves to dust. '_Too soon! It is not done yet! The Dragon still breathes!' _He awakes with a jolt as though falling and is relieved to find he is still in one piece, chilled to the core but still whole. A mist rises from the Stargate pool and, through the trees, the thin dawn is breaking, the day of the Equinox has arrived. Ninian coughs loudly to wake Aelix, then rolls over and pretends to sleep. If it is to be his last day in the realm of the living, he will not waste it on mundane chores, someone else can cook the breakfast for him today.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

**The Equinox**

Professor Peter Cromwell stares at the countdown on the screens in the atrium of the SGCUK. His teams have taken up position in a mile perimeter around the Stargate pool and a news blackout is in place. In front of him group of engineers and scientists are still working to put together a containment mechanism to hold the gate should the teams in the field fall. Hours are whittling down to minutes and time is running out. The equinox is here and the Stargate waits, as it has for centuries, for the moment the planets align and the eclipse event takes place, mirrored across the universe in a moment of perfect alignment over which, despite all the state-of-the-art technology, it seems he has no control.

As the moon travels in between the sun and earth, its shadow runs across the northern hemisphere, travelling at speed up over the Atlantic until it blankets the south of England in a strange amber shade. At the Stargate pool, the team wait, poised and ready for the expected attack by the Dragon King and his army of ancients while back at SGCUK, engineers and scientists work to finish a containment field for the Stargate before it opens to the four worlds. All around the pool, the birds fall silent as the sky darkens and the air becomes colder as the moon travels on, devouring the sun until all but a diamond burst of light is left. And then the sun is gone, the moon and Earth align, cogs in a universal clock, and it feels as though, for a moment, time stands still.

The horse herd reaches the river confluence before Hall Mead just as the twin stars start to align behind Epona's moon. The ecliptic shadowing sends a shiver of unrest through the horses. Lore stares at the city before them, the air is heavy with smoke and the sounds of wailing can be heard above the din of battle. In front of him the horses restlessly move as the sky deepens and Lore instinctively knows if he is to try and save the city and his twin, it is now or never. He reaches into his saddle bag and retrieves a small, flat drum made of taut animal hide with two batons tied to edges covered with silver bells. He urges Castan to a trot as he rattles the drum above his head, the bells and batons ringing out in alarm. The horses first scatter before him then return to follow him in the open wake left behind as Castan, nostrils flaring and eyes rolling, charges at full gallop towards the city gates, Lore urging her faster and faster with the drum. The other herders follow Lore's lead and soon, the entire herd is on the move. The air is filled with the loud rumble of the herd and the ground trembles under their hooves as thousands of horses race to the city gates as one.

Inside the city, the besieged citizens hear the sound and feel the ground tremble and a ripple of hope runs through the desperate streets. The Naxen raiders do not heed the noise and do not notice as the fighting ceases and the enemy seems to melt away. Even the Valkyr retreat to the walls of the palace. By now the horses are in full stampede and Lore and the herders are doing all they can just to stay seated on their horses. At the very moment Lore thinks he is to be dashed against the gates of the city, they are flung wide open and the herd pours through into the narrow streets and lanes of Hall Mead, trampling the Naxen under their flying hooves. The screams of a dying army chill Lore to the bone but still he races on, Castan leaping bodies and building rubble, racing to the palace and its the maze of narrow passageways. Above him the stars align and the great shadowing falls and Hall Mead is plunged into a twilight gloom but only one thought is on his mind, to find Kyna.

The lake of the Infernus Gate lies silently shrouded with the army of Morrigna wraiths, waiting for the Moonshadowing to unlock the door and deliver them from their hunger. They will devour the enemy of the Dragon King on Celestia and feast on Nixor's restored power. High above the volcano, the sky changes from day to night, the moment of totality arrives.

Agnes stands a little nearer to Daniel wondering if she had known how it would end up, would she have sent all those emails and calls to him about the hoard coins. Her hand finds his and Daniel smiles at her and gives her hand a squeeze of reassurance. 'A penny for them?' he asks, sensing the fear in her, the fear in all of them wondering what could come through the Stargate any moment now. 'Not so much a penny, more a gold coin. I was wondering if I would have called you if I had known it would lead to all of this...this...' she trails off, unable to finish the sentence.

'For what it's worth, I'm glad you did, Agnes, it's been a pleasure to work with you.' His words are warm and Agnes takes comfort in them. After the battle the day before who knew what new terrors the eclipse would bring. She shivers slightly, suddenly acutely aware it is not from fear but from cold as the sky overhead darkens.

Daniel glances around at the rest of the team around the pool, Kyna, Tara and Teal'c are on the far side opposite them. Ninian, Aelix, Jack and the rest of the away team are spread out around the perimeter while Agnes and himself are standing by the radio, waiting to give the all clear if SGCUK get their Stargate containment device working.

Nixor rises from his lair under the old stones of what was once his temple, built by giants and tor trolls. The henge is almost toppled now, a scattered set of broken stones, pockmarked with age and lichen, nothing but a roost for rooks and rough grazing for sheep. What once were marshlands to rival the Naxenlands is now rolling farmland but soon it would all be his. Once the Stargates opened, his armies of Naxen raiders and Morrigna wraiths would scour the land, everything would fall before them and the fall of this temple would be nothing to the revenge he would wreak for the millennia spent imprisoned under the Seal of Epona. Nixor winds his body among the stones, his translucent scales taking on the grey pallor of the rock, blurring his form, his talons scour the ground and his eyes burn bright with the thought of battle. Once in the centre of the horseshoe of old stones, he spreads his wings and stretches, then, in one sinuous movement leaps skyward and beats his wings as the amber light camouflages his body and he swoops low across the fields to meet his armies.

Kyna stares at the blade of the xiphos in her hand, its bright metal dulls as the moon hides the sun on this strange planet and she steels herself at the thought of the battle about to unfold. On each of the four Stargate pools, in perfect unison as the eclipse reaches its zenith, a single ripple spreads out from the centre to the sides followed by the roaring sound of water forced, under great duress, into giant walls of spinning waterspout, forming a pathway through the void of space and time to link all four planets at once. 'It is begun.' Kyna whispers under her breath and she raises her sword in readiness.

Teal'c hears the dragon before he sees it, swooping out of the sky towards him, its talons raised and teeth bared. Instinctively he fires his staff and the blast glances over the creatures scales, chattering and screeching in whorls of flame and sparks. Nixor falls to the ground, barely winded by the blow and raises up on his hind legs, advancing towards Teal'c with a murderous look in his eyes. Teal'c holds his ground and fires again as Tara leaps at the wings of the beast, slashing a great rip in one as she dodges the dragon's thrashing tail. Before Jack can join in, the first of the Naxen raiders appears through the gate, shrieking and running as though the world is after him and Jack swiftly stuns him, ordering his team of guards to fire their weapons as more appear. For a moment Nixor falters, wondering why his Naxen raiders seem to be fleeing for their lives but his attention is immediately focused back on Teal'c and Tara as the two inflict an onslaught of blows.

The horses race through the city of Hall Mead like water from a tap, cleaning the streets of the fighting Naxen raiders, rushing and running through every courtyard and narrow lane. As the Stargate opens the horses reach the inner courtyard and pour into the vortex, oblivious to the destination, only certain of the freedom of the stampede. On Maere, the wraiths step into the pool as the vortex opens only to met with the thrashing hooves of horses racing after Naxen raiders, crushing them under the waves and throwing the lake of the Infernus Gate into a maelstrom of confusion. In the chaos, one wraith slips through, spying a Celestian through the wall of the vortex, it reaches through and grabs its prey, overwhelmed by hunger and hatred.

The radio sputters into life and for a moment Daniel's attention is drawn to it. He lets go of Agnes's hand and tries to tune the signal in a bid to hear the message from SGCUK. In that second Agnes is grabbed by the death-cold embrace of the wraith and her startled scream is cut short as the wraith feasts on her life force, draining the years from her in seconds as he drags her back into the vortex. _'No!' _Daniel yells as he leaps after them and reaches through the wall of the water vortex with his hand, holding onto Agnes as best he can but he is too late, the wraith drops her lifeless body and slips away, back to Maere.

On the other side of the Stargate pool, Kyna and Aelix find themselves fighting back to back, pinned down by a group of Naxen, unable to cut a way free. Still searching for his sister in Hall Mead, Lore and Castan reach the Stargate pool and, without thinking, leap through the water to reach the other side of the courtyard. From the corner of her eye, Kyna catches sight of a pony she recognises leaping through the wall of water from the pool and she shouts out her brother's name as Lore races through the Stargate. _'Lore! I'm over here! Help us!' _

Lore, catching sight of his sister, urges Castan straight at the Naxen raiders, making them scatter and freeing Aelix and Kyna. He chases a few of them down and then turns Castan round back to the Stargate to the battle unfolding there.

Tara and Teal'c are struggling to hold off the Dragon King and are slowly being forced to defend rather than attack. High above them, Ninian, in the shape of a merlin, hovers watching the events unfold below him, seeing it all as though in slow motion, when it is, in fact, only a matter of seconds. Ninian watches Daniel pulling Agnes back through the vortex and sees Aelix fighting on the other side of the pool and for an instance, glimpses all four worlds through the vortex and realises that time has finally caught up with him and he can see a way to save them all. The Sands of Time have found a way to reclaim him. He smiles at the thought and swoops low to Aelix, whispering in his ear, 'You will make a fine Magus some day Aelixor of Avalon, remember sword to stone!'. Aelix whirls around at the sound of his master but Ninian flies to where Daniel is cradling the lifeless body of Agnes. He regains his human form and kneels down beside them. 'Is she gone?' Daniel asks, still aghast at what he has just witnessed.

'Not yet, perhaps someone delved into the Sands of Time and then held onto her for dear life?' The Magus smiles at Daniel's guilty jolt of memory. 'No harm done. You had enough time stored in your hand to save her but not to give her life back. That requires a little more.' Ninian gently lays his hands on her head and whispers something into the air. Through the open Stargates, the Sands of Time hear the words and very slowly unravel the hours Ninian has kept, unwinding him into nothing but grains of sand that flow over Agnes and then, as if caught by a sudden breeze, flow back through the vortex and he is gone. Agnes's eyelids flutter briefly, as if dreaming and then she opens her eyes and smiles at Daniel.

Lore grabs the mane of a passing nearby horse and reigns in Castan, giving Kyna a chance to leap up onto the back of it. She nimbly reaches down and pulls up Aelix to sit behind her and then leaps up, suddenly seeing a way to help save her Queen, Tara and Teal'c as the horses of Epona start to pour out from the vortex. _'Follow me!'_ she shouts at Aelix, nimbly running across the backs of the horses like a bridge to where Nixor is. Aelix, stumbles and missteps but the horses are so close together he does not fall and he follows with just enough time to see Kyna take a flying leap at the neck of Dragon King, the blade of Raizor, her xiphos, reflecting the total eclipse in it's polished metal. _'Sword to stone.'_ Ninian's words suddenly make sense and Aelix leaps up shouts out an old incantation, learnt by heart long ago as Kyna buries the blade deep in the ear of the beast just at the moment Nixor is about to crush Tara and Teal'c in his talons. The sword rings dimly with the words and Nixor roars in anger, knowing he has been defeated. The blade bites deep but the words bite deeper, turning Nixor to stone from the inside out.

High above the sun and moon move on and the eclipse is suddenly over and the Stargates close as quickly as they opened, the water falling to flat calm in an instant. For a moment everything seems to be spellbound and then, somewhere in the trees surrounding the pool, a bird starts to sing. The radio beside Daniel and Agnes starts to work and the voice of Professor Cromwell breaks the spell by announcing the containment field is finally working and asks for an update on the situation.

Later after Tara, Kyna and Lore have said their goodbyes and stepped through the Stargate to Epona with their horses and Naxen prisoners and Aelix returns to Avalon to take Ninian's place as a Magus. Jack, Teal'c, Daniel and Agnes stand in the atrium of Stargate Command UK while Professor Peter Cromwell tries to explain via a secure video channel to the Defence Minister just exactly what happened during the eclipse, it is not going well.

'_A dragon? And Merlin... and a magic sword...I suppose next you are going to tell me there was a Lady in the Lake?' _The Minister is definitely not impressed with the Professor's report, his voice heavy with sarcasm._ 'Do you really expect me to submit this ...this... report to the Prime Minister?'_

'Well... yes... sort of.. what I mean is...'

Trying hard not to laugh at the poor Professor's improbable explanation, Jack takes a gold coin from his pocket and flips it high into the air, asking 'Anyone for a coffee? Heads I'll buy, tails it's back through the Stargate...' Daniel, Agnes and Teal'c all laugh and they turn and leave, heading for the lift up to the cafe at the truck stop above ground while the Minister shouts at the Professor in the background.

The End


End file.
